A Sunny Day (At Last) at Port Chalmers

October 19, 2019

A Sunny Day (At Last) at Port Chalmers

19^thOctober 2019

It seems the sun does shine in New Zealand after all. It is a beautiful day at Port Chalmers with a bright sunny sky and much warmer temperatures. We docked early and preparations for passengers to go ashore were completed by 8.30am. Some passengers have chosen to take a train trip through the Taieri Gorge and the train actually arrived at the wharf to pick them up.

Passengers lining up to get on the train adjacent the ship

Once again, we had not booked any shore excursion, preferring to catch a shuttle bus to Dunedin, have a look around there and come back to Port Chalmers to also see as much of it as we could in the timeframe allowed.

After breakfast we disembarked and were on the shuttle bus almost immediately heading off to Dunedin at around 9.30am. It is about 15 minutes from the Port.

The next few hours were spent looking around Dunedin, having our morning cup of coffee and checking out the main attractions. Not a lot has changed since we were here many years ago. The shuttle dropped us off at the Octagon and we wandered off in the direction of the railway station, the most photographed building in Dunedin built in an era when Dunedin was the centre of the universe.

Law Courts from the Railway Station Gardens

Dunedin Railway Station

A farmers market was in full swing in the railway station carpark, so we filled in a bit of time wandering through it and seeing what was on offer. Vegan’s seem to be gaining popularity on the food front over here.

Farmers Market

Unique way to cook a pizza

Next we went back up to the Octagon, had a cup of coffee in a nice café and had a look around the old buildings and park area around the Octagon, before strolling down the main street for a bit of a look around.

Statue of Robert Burns (with seagull)

We were back on the shuttle bus to return to Port Chalmers at just after midday.

Hotel opposite the Port with railway tunnel beside it (appropriately called the Tunnel Hotel)

Port Chalmers Main Street

Passengers who rushed back to Port Chalmers to have lunch on the ship were about to be very disappointed. As the shuttle bus arrived at the entrance, we saw fire engines everywhere, and the port had been shut down. So no-one was allowed to enter the port to board Ruby Princess. It seems it may have been a false alarm, but we were not planning to go back on board so soon anyway. Finding somewhere to have lunch was top of our priority list.

There were surprisingly few options, and after walking all the way up and down the main street, we settled on the only decent looking place we saw called Futomaki. Calling itself Filipino – Japanese cuisine added to the confusion, but they had cold beer on tap so we decided to give them a go. The food was excellent and the serves very generous.

A bit of Kiwi humour on display as we walked through the town

There are some lovely old buildings

And finally, we found somewhere to eat

After lunch we walked to the Flagstaff Hill Lookout, which gave a fantastic view of the port, harbour and township. It was a bit of a climb, but well worth it.

Ruby Princess from Flagstaff Hill

Looking towards the harbour entrance, a yacht race is under way

Nice view of the town

Looking upstream towards Dunedin

Flagstaff Hill (adjacent the Port)

On our way back to the ship we had to walk right past the Maritime Museum and decided to have a look inside for the very reasonable admission fee of $2 each. It was a great little museum giving a colourful history of Port Chalmers and the exhibits were both interesting and well displayed.

Port Chalmers is an interesting place and worth spending a bit of time looking around and taking in the lovely old buildings and great views.

It is now around 3.30pm and we are ready to head back on board ship, having had a much more enjoyable day than the past few where the weather has been less than favourable.

Port Chalmers is obviously a major port for the export of logs

Just before departure from Port Chalmers the Captain made an announcement over the PA system providing a weather update for the next few days. It seems a nasty low is developing in the lower Tasman Sea and heading our way with estimated winds of 40-50 knots and 6 to 8 m seas. In order to avoid as much of this as possible our scenic tour of Fjordland tomorrow will be reduced from all day to around 3 hours only covering Milford Sound. Then plan is then to head NNW at full speed until reaching roughly Sydney’s latitude before changing course for Sydney. I guess visiting New Zealand at this time of the year is not a good idea.

Departure from Port Chalmers is quite spectacular. It is a very narrow channel, very close to the shore eventually requiring a 90 degree turn at the end to exit to the ocean through a narrow entrance. The weather is also turning nasty again with very dark skies ahead of us. I guess our one day of sunshine in NZ was an aberration.