After our train trip down the Taieri Gorge we were met by an old uni friend of mine, David, who, with his partner Margaret hosted us for the weekend. We had a whistlestop visit to my old university campus before heading to their place on Friday, and then after dropping Neil and Colleen at the airport to pick up their rental car and start their West Coast adventure, we had a couple of quick trips to spots near Dunedin I’d never managed to visit when I studied here due to the lack of a car; a bicycle only gets you so far!

On the way back from the airport we stopped again at the Taieri River, stll high, but not flowing as fast as higher up the valley the day before, and then at Taieri Mouth, a nice finish to our bike ride/train trip the previous day.

And in the afternoon we headed north of Dunedin to Waikouaiti, visiting the historic site of Matanaka, where the whaler Johnny Jones established a farm in 1840 which sustained the early settlers in Dunedin, and Huriawa, a historic Maori pa site nearby.

Then back to Wellington on Sunday morning to unpack, wash and get organised to fly to California on Saturday.