By Bus and Train Through Fabulous Scenery

We departed Queenstown on our bus, headed for Dunedin on the southeast coast.  On our way we passed through much of the scenery for which the South Island is justly famous.  Many of the landscapes were shot through the bus or train windows, so they aren't quite as crisp as they could be.  Some amazing views, though.

This location is the spot where commercial bungee jumping began.  It's still being used for jumping, and someone is preparing to jump in the second photo.

We stopped for a winery tour.  Our guide explained that every bottle produced by this winery is sold right there on the spot.  None is even sent to shops in surrounding towns, much less exported.

Their vineyard is certainly in a beautiful spot.

We trooped into their cellar for a bit of wine tasting, passing casks of aging wine along the way.

Coming out of the cave, we passed this carpenter's truck.  "Ute" (for "utility") is the term used in New Zealand and Australia for pickup truck.

The gift shop had all the usual items, plus these coasters.  No clue as to why they would be on sale here.  They're not cheap -- about US $26 per set.

A gorgeous river valley on the way to our next stop.

The stop was at Jones's Fruit Stall (we would probably say fruit stand), which had a huge variety of fresh food.  They seem to be serious, in several languages, about not picking their display clean.

The fruit is not expensive -- the Granny Smith apples are about US$ 1.10 per pound.

All of this is honey, of many different kinds.

Looks pretty fearsome, but they're just pine cones.

Jones's had not only fruit, but a beautiful flower garden as well.

We stopped for lunch in the town of Clyde.  Except for the mountains, and the traffic on the other side of the street, Clyde could be Fredericksburg, Texas, or many other places in the US.

Then again, not many US law firms present themselves as Barristers and Solicitors.

Several of us chose a cafe in the former court house building.

Lots of good-looking things to eat, and some not-so-familiar items on the menu.

This was not the pork belly salad, and it was delicious.  The gull waited his turn (or tern).

The town has mounted a large clock on the mountainside.  Who needs a clock tower when you have a handy mountain?

A violin and piano concert is coming up, but we'll be home for Thanksgiving then.

We left Clyde, and our bus took us through even more gorgeous landscapes.

Perhaps this is where that photo that was used as the desktop background on millions of Microsoft Windows systems was shot.

Our bus took us to Pukerangi, where we waited for the Taieri Gorge Railway train to Dunedin.  This is a narrow-gauge (3ft 6in) line that was once part of New Zealand Railways but is now a tourist excursion operation.  Still, it has passenger coaches and baggage cars, so we were able to use it to complete our journey to Dunedin.

Transferring our luggage from the bus to the railway baggage car.

Our stop was the end of the line, so the locomotive was decoupled and moved to the other end of the train.

All aboard! and we're off.

The coaches were full-fledged observation cars, with lots of windows.

The landscape was pretty flat to start, but soon we entered hills like these.  The yellow flowering plants are a mix of gorse and broom, neither native to New Zealand and both invasive.  Like many troublesome invasive plants (think kudzu in the American South),  the people who introduced them thought that doing so was a good idea at the time.  Now it's impossible to get rid of them.

Before too long we saw why it's the Taieri Gorge Railway.

The connections between cars were open to the air, giving better views and better photos, and a really bracing ride.

We stopped for photos at Hindon, a tiny station in the middle of nowhere but with great scenery.

This statue of Sue, a collie dog, was dedicated to "the collie sheep dogs that have worked this land for the last 150 years."

We continued toward Dunedin, now passing through country that was a bit flatter and more amenable to farming.  Lots of sheep; it's New Zealand, after all.

Close to Dunedin, it became horse country complete with a racecourse.

One of the gingerbread-decorated houses on Dunedin's outskirts.

We pulled in to Dunedin and disembarked.  It's a regular train station, with the tourist operation being just a small part.

Some of the railway's power comes from Japan, not surprising considering New Zealand's location.

We admired the ornate train station and kept an eye out for our bags as they were transferred to our next bus.

That night we enjoyed an excellent Italian meal.

Tomorrow we'll see a bit of Dunedin and then head out to look for albatross and penguins.