OK, where was I?
Wed the 30th was up, finish packing, post the items to Blighty, & grab a pressie for yours truly.
Unfortunately, the other handle (see the Nelson to Christchurch blog?) had come off the pink Boston wheelie, & prices in Queenstown were generally horrendous, so the girls from Dunedin who had shared the room on Tues (Roz, Thariza, Lynda, Donna & Amy - plus Tracy from Sidney), suggested a good place in Dunedin.
Meanwhile, I did the best I could with what I had, & thanked god I had nice strong men to manhandle my handle-less suitcase!
Incidentally, my pressie to me was a fun T with NZ phrases on it: like drongo, chunder, sweet as, jandals etc. I'd need a translator for some of them, tho ;-) - see below.
The bus to Pukerangi via Cromwell (where I'd swum in the Clutha on the way down) turned up on schedule, & travelled back up the Kawarau gorge. This time I had chance to gawp - not having to worry about driving over the edge!
We had a change of driver at Cromwell - Dylan. He looked quite normal, sitting down.
After that it was off to Pukerangi by way of Clyde, Wedderburn (not the Scottish ones), Ranfurly & Hyde (not the Manchester one- hahaha).
On the way, Dylan got chatting & admitted to being asked to don the Witch King's costume for a promotional photo shoot.
He said it was a bit tight, but as Lawrence Makoare (AKA Lurtz & Gothmog) was the actual actor, maybe Dylan was carrying more weight then?
At that precise mo, the height thing never crossed my mind.
Anyway, Dylan also pointed out a landscape which was clearly recognisable as Rohan, despite Brodie's book saying it was done at Poolburn, which was in the middle of nowhere (we'd passed the turning for it a while back).
As there were other peeps interested, he stopped bus for a photo shoot.
Eventually, after >4.5 hrs on the road, we arrived at Pukerangi. This was a house & a cutesy station building. Photos to follow!
It was absolutely blowing a gale, but sunny, so when the train arrived, I travelled most of the way on the thingy between the carriages - it was just like in a Western, but without Cassidy & Sundance.
I took quite a bit of vid & photos during the gorge bit (ie Taieri Gorge), & there was stop for everyone to get out & click away.
It was still blowing, so I went back in from the front & got a brew from the buffet car. While I was waiting, someone came up behing me & started talking. I looked over my shoulder, & up, & up, & up.
It was Dylan & he was he-ewje - & he looked so normal, sitting down ;-P !
No wonder he got the job as Lawrence's body-double!
Soon after we were under way again, it started to rain, & as I was standing outside (on the train), I thought Billy (Connelly) was right when he made the joke about 'sideways rain' in Dunedin!
After waiting ages for my first sight of the sea, we were almost in the station before it appeared between all the containers.
Not quite the picturesque moment I'd been hoping for, but you can't win 'em all.
I'm still very impressed with Customer Service here, as Dylan told a few of us to wait in the staion while he arranged for a mini-bus to take us to our digs. What a nice man!
Bloody good job too, as my digs is up a massive hill (I know this, as I've walked up it from 2 directions over the last 2 days, & wouldn't have wanted to attempt it that evening after a long day travelling).
The digs is great, tho. Jenny & son, Jake, are very sweet, there's a lovely puss, wooden floors, all the tea (with milk - weee!) I can drink, & mega breakfasts. Lovely jubbly.
And, Jenny provided a translation for the T-shirt: Brill :-)
And, I can get on the net without breaking the bank: Double Brill :-))
Hence chance to do some photos yesterday.
Anyway, off to bed now, so the tale of New Years Eve will have to wait until manana
OAO
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment