Rocks, Trees, and Mountains, Oh My!

Our train. I was a middle car.

This was one of the most stunning trips I have ever gone on.  But, before I get to the nature bits, let me start of by saying: I love trains.  They are my favorite form of transport.  They seem to be one of the few moving objects that I do not instantly get sleepy on.  They are so old fashioned, yet high-tech.  At home, I love taking the train into the city.  In France, I loved taking the RER and the TGV.  And now, I got to take the Taieri Gorge Railway Trip.  The train went from the Dunedin train station to Pukerangi, then back again.  It was a 2 hour ride each way, but it all went far too fast.

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The trip started out with the conductor saying something along the lines of, "please, no heads out the windows and keeps your arms inside."  Hahaha!  No one listened to that.  Heck, he didn't even listen to his own instructions because the ad in the local pamphlet had the conductor hanging his whole head and torso out the window!  He then went on to explain other rules, introduce other workers, and welcome all of us on board.  

The only people on the train were international students at our Uni.  When I went exploring through the train, I got to realize how many people I had met so far!  I also have a suggestion for starting anywhere new: get good at learning names.  Having to learn a group of 10-15 girls' names a week at summer camp helped me.  But some other things that help are to: repeat their name after they introduce themselves (like, "Hello, what's-your-name, nice to meet you."), repeat their name seven times and connect it to something mostly permanent on their person (glasses, eyes, piercing, etc.), quiz yourself every so often, or make a funny saying involving their name (yes, those annoying name games really do work).  

Even though I had fun seeing people I had met earlier in the week, meeting some new people, and doing our school chant (O-taaaaaaaaaa-goooooooo!), it was not what made this trip so spectacular.  It was the scenery:

The water was muddy brown, the evergreen trees glowed in various shades of dark green, light green and yellow grass peeked out through any clearings, and large gray rocks jutted out of the hillside.  Then, next to the river, there were these strikingly beautiful willow trees.  Bare, light brown, medium height, and sprawling all over the banks of the river, these trees stood out as a borderline between the surrounding coniferous forest and the Taieri River.  The most stunning aspect of these trees, though, was the slight red tint the tip of each branch had.  

Also on the trip were occasional patches of bright yellow flowers, tall and skinny ash-colored trees with branches and leaves only at the very top, a wild horse, massive hills, rocky cliffs, snowy mountains in the distance, patches of mini-forests of a different tree species, and sheep.  Lots of sheep.  I finally got to see the massive amounts of sheep that New Zealand is known for.  And I got a picture of a hill full of them.  

I know it's blurry, but each one of those white dots is a sheep. There were even more on the other side of the hill.

For future reference, visit the last car of the train to see if there is a caboose.  If there is, you can get wonderful pictures of the whole train, the empty tracks behind you, tunnels, and bridges.  If it is cold, I still suggest going outside.  For me, the wind and general temperature was pretty chilly outside, but anytime we went through a tunnel, it felt like a sauna.  The temporary warmth is enough to keep you warm.  Plus, you can pop inside any of the cars to quickly heat up.  But being outside and watching the land go by without a pane of glass in the way is a much better experience.  It makes the incredible landscape with all it's glowing leaves, sparkling waters, and deep, shady valleys more believable.  

My favorite photo.

Now, I'm sure you've heard of the Lonely Mountain.  I have not seen it yet, but I did name a new landmark.  I call it, the Lonely Tree (see the picture to the left). A student was humming LotR during one of our stops, and it got stuck in my head for the rest of the trip, hence the name.  But, when you go on a trip like this, it's easy to see why Peter Jackson picked the country and why the music and story fits so well in New Zealand.  

Overall, it was a wonderful trip that was great for sightseeing, a new way to meet other international students, and a nice time to relax after the crazy course approvals.  

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