We did a little rocking and rolling on the ship last night, but by 6am we were entering the harbor at Port Chalmers (Dunedin) and the waters were calm. Our morning and early afternoon was spent on the Taieri Gorge Train. The train pulls up next to the ship, boards the passengers and then takes off through the mountains for about a 50 kilometer scenic ride. I rate the overall experience as very good. The scenery was not spectacular…..it was heavily overcast so that may have been a bit of a problem….but it was still very nice scenery. However, the service was very good. Even on a cloudy day it is hard not to enjoy yourself on a train ride through the mountains where you are served champagne (2 glasses), local beer, New Zealand wine (2 glasses), a light lunch and chocolate. A word of warning: the train seats are not designed for American sized people. One side of the car has a single row of seats arranged facing each other in pairs, the other side has a 2 person bench arranged in pairs facing each other.  I first tried sitting at a seat-pair designed for 2 people and my knees touched the other seat….there was no where for Pam to sit. So, I moved to a seat-pair designed for 3 or 4 people and found that I could….just barely….get my legs in and Pam could sit on the other side as long as she was off-set from me by a foot or so. Even so, getting in and out of the seats can be tricky for anyone over 5 feet tall. As a result I spent most of my time on the outside of the car taking pictures except when my presence was required to eat or drink something.

The main amusements during the ride (other than the mountain scenery) were:

1. Talking to two little old ladies from Wales who were in the seat across the aisle from us…..which re-enforced for us the old says that “American’s and Brit’s are two people separated by a common language”.
2. Listening to a large Australian man a few seats away from us……he talked nearly non-stop during the trip, but the accent made it enchanting, not annoying. I wish I could have recorded part of his conversation…..you would swear it was someone doing a parody of an Aussie, but it was the real thing.
3. Watching John, our train car steward, as he chatted up, hugged, squeezed, touched, patted, caressed  and otherwise became semi-intimate with every woman in our car who was between the age of 16 and 86. John was probably in his 70’s and was not a handsome man even in his youth…..his face reminded me very much of a Kiwi bird…..but John had personality and charm to which the ladies were not immune. John is my hero.

Following the train ride we walked through the town of Port Chalmers to the church and the Old Cemetery (not to be confused with the New Cemetery)…which is a spooky, hilly little place hidden in the forest on the side of the mountain that is perched above the port.

That was a very quick overview of our day, but I have to stop now and move on to other activities….more later in a day or two.