{"id":14438,"date":"2018-10-29T16:41:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T20:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=14438"},"modified":"2018-11-07T16:54:45","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T21:54:45","slug":"port-chalmers-dunedin-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=14438","title":{"rendered":"Port Chalmers, Dunedin, New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday – October 28, 2018<\/p>\n

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My brother, Bob, suggested that I take a photo out of our balcony door every morning to record the weather. \u00a0It had been sunny and clear all the previous days so I didn\u2019t post those photos, but this morning gray clouds were moving in and look very threatening.<\/p>\n

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The ship entered the protected harbor of Port Chalmers and followed the channel markers to its assigned dock. \u00a0Two tugboats assisted in the docking procedure. \u00a0Port Chalmers is the commercial port for the city of Dunedin in the southern part of New Zealand. \u00a0I watched as one of the tugs kept the Majestic from touching the large container ship which was docked nearby. \u00a0The tugboats are really big, but look small in comparison to the large ships around them.<\/p>\n

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We had several options in Port Chalmers. \u00a0We could have taken a shuttle bus into the \u201cScottish\u201d town of Dunedin and explored the city. It\u2019s supposed to be a vibrant \u201ccollege town\u201d with a variety of pubs and great coffee. \u00a0Dunedin is the Gaelic name for Edinburgh in Scotland and was named by the early Scottish settlers. \u00a0We also could have explored the lovely town of Port Chalmers on foot. \u00a0We opted to ride the famous Taieri River Gorge Railway which travels inland so we could see some of the interior of south New Zealand.<\/p>\n

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The train picked us up right at the dock near our ship. \u00a0Very convenient! \u00a0We sat in the comfort of vintage 1940s railroad cars and shared our adventure with a couple from Toronto Canada and two couples from Davenport, Iowa. \u00a0The weather outside was grey and cool – 53 degrees – but warm and toasty in the train.<\/p>\n

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There are supposed to nine sheep to every one New Zealander. \u00a0We rode past a number of bright green fields speckled with white sheep and young lambs.<\/p>\n

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It was a pleasant ride through the countryside. \u00a0Spring flowers were in bloom and the deep valleys were lovely. \u00a0The train stopped at the end of the line and we all got off to take pictures. \u00a0Local people had set up tables filled with craft items to sell to the passengers. \u00a0As we stretched our legs, the locomotive turned around and reconnected with the back of the train for the return journey. \u00a0The host of our car mentioned that the engineer driving the train was a woman. \u00a0Good for her!<\/p>\n

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The train drove back through the beautiful New Zealand hills and stopped at the famous Dunedin train station. \u00a0This is reputed to be the \u201cmost photographed building in New Zealand.\u201d \u00a0We joined the other amateur photographers and took lots of pictures inside and outside the station.<\/p>\n

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The train took us back to the port which was a short 15 minute ride. \u00a0We passed through ship\u2019s security as a gentle rain fell on Port Chalmers. \u00a0We enjoyed a nice relaxing day out in “the bush\u201d as the New Zealanders call their remote interior.<\/p>\n

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The Port Chalmers\u2019 tug boats waited for the Majestic Princess to depart. \u00a0I watched a huge crane off load containers from the commercial ship on the adjacent dock.<\/p>\n

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Sunday – October 28, 2018 My brother, Bob, suggested that I take a photo out of our balcony door every morning to record the weather. \u00a0It had been sunny and clear all the previous days so I didn\u2019t post those photos, but this morning gray clouds were moving in and look very threatening. The ship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruising","category-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14457,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14438\/revisions\/14457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}