Charming Port Chalmers
Thursday 30 January
We made good time over Foveaux Strait, which I’m pleased to say, continued to be pretty smooth, so it was also a chance to get the dusters out and give Salanjo a bit of a spruce up after a busy few weeks on the boat. We passed Slope Point which is the southernmost point of the South Island and Geoff’s plan was to get into Waikawa harbour where there was good anchorage off the first shingle beach, for us to overnight here. And if this didn’t pan out the plan would be to cruise into the Waikawa River, as recommended in his Otago Cruising Guide. Well, we all know what happened to the best laid plans…. It was getting late, and the sun had been replaced with an overcast sky. We passed Curio Bay and went into Porpoise Bay, the waves were rolling in and there was a swell so it was never going to be an option to anchor there, so we carried on towards the river mouth. Those waves kept rolling and it got narrower – a rockcliff on one side and the breaking surf to the beach on the other, which forced us to hug the rocks - the last thing we needed was the big swells washing us up onto the beach. To make matters worse the depth at one point got down to 1.7 metres! Yikes, the alarm was going crazy, (as if we didn’t know how shallow it was getting!) my eyes were glued to the depth monitor which was fluctuating every second whilst I was yelling out the numbers to Geoff. Thankfully, we got back up to about 4 metres and got the anchor out quickly (missing a couple of sealions who were lurking around in the process). That was it, almost dark and feeling more than a little stressed, into the cabin we came, firmly shut the doors and both had a stiff gin and tonic! It had been a long day for me with my early start for the school-bus-wave in Auckland, so I was happy to have an early night! (only the photo of Slope Point here – far too stressful for me to take any photos of our Waikawa River experience!).
Friday 31 January
The river was running about 2 knots all night, so we had to get out at the top of the tide with the minimum depth of 4 meters. No time to waste then, the anchor was up around 7.45am and we were out of there – safely I’m pleased to report! It’s been great weather today, sunshine and blue skies, no wind, which means no sails up, but a very pleasant cruise up the coast. We passed Nugget Point which is a coastal landform at the northern end of the Catlins coast, with its lighthouse, built in 1869 and originally powered by an oil burner, but now fully automated and computer-monitored by Maritime New Zealand, and The Nuggets – the rocky islets surrounding it. It was lovely to see it all from the water, as Geoff and I did a tiki-tour by car around the Catlins last August and we saw all these places from the land, so good to see it all from another perspective.
We’ve cruised all day and it’s been a chance to finish my Sadie the Cleaning lady jobs and relax and read. It’s now nearly 7.30pm as we are nearing Dunedin. We’re heading into Port Chalmers for a couple of nights which will be very interesting. Nine o’clock and we’re in Port Chalmers which lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour– and it looks so picturesque on this summer’s evening. We’ve anchored right in Carey Bay, so it’ll be easy for when we get in the dinghy in the morning.
Saturday 1 February
A lie in! The first in a long time! And another first in a long time….breakfast to be had in a café! We headed into Carey Bay; it’s so pretty with the focal point being the Carey Bay Historic Hotel bang in the middle of the bay. We’ve lucked out, it’s a bloody stunner of a day – wow, I feel like I’m on holiday! No merinos today – it’s shorts and t-shirts for us. Dressed and ready to go, we tied the dinghy up to the little wharf and had a look around us – the Hotel is gorgeous, built from Port Chalmers bluestone, it opened in 1874 and is at the heart of the local boat building and fishing community. We had a quick peek inside, thinking it would be a great dinner spot for us, and yes, it certainly will be, with a lovely old wooden bar and fireplace We reserved the best table in the restaurant for ourselves, the only table in the window overlooking the bay!
And off we went for a walk into town. Such a pretty place but oh how it is spoilt by the huge container port built right at the bottom of the main street. What were these planners thinking! The discovery of gold here in 1861 lead to the Otago gold rush which saw 16,000 new arrivals pass through the port in a three-month period. This totally transformed Port Chalmers as businesses sprung up to service the ships and their passengers. A large number of Scots emigrated to Port Chalmers primarily because of the Otago Association, which was established by members of the Free Church of Scotland, aiming to create a new Scottish settlement in the region, providing an opportunity for Scots seeking better economic conditions to escape poverty and unemployment in their homeland, particularly due to factors like the Highland Clearances, falling cattle prices, and the potato famine; Port Chalmers served as the primary arrival point for these settlers and was so named after Thomas Chalmers, the leader of the Free Church Movement. The ugly container port was built in 1977 when Dunedin won the battle to be the South Island’s principal container terminal. What a sight for sore eyes it is – this pretty little town, with its beautifully maintained heritage buildings and overlooking such a scenic peninsula, is totally marred by the sight of Maersk containers and heavy lifting machinery right at the bottom of the main street (I deliberately didn’t take any photos of this eyesore!).
We had a coffee and pastry and proceeded to have a wander around. Port Chalmers is a bit of an artists’ colony with some lovely little galleries and eclectic shops. We also visited the Maritime Museum which is housed in the original 1877 stone post office building and has both a maritime collection and a settlers’ collection which gave us a really great overview of the early pioneers and characters who have lived here over the years. Next up, was a (much needed) walking tour. Firstly, around the beautiful Town Hall which was opposite the Maritime Museum. Built in 1889, it originally served as all-purpose government offices and housed the town hall, customs, fire, morgue, police and the courts, now it is just a Town Hall and Library. We noticed that the Town Hall door was open, so went in to take a look – wow – beautifully laid long banquet tables with stunning floral arrangements – in anticipation of the new bride and groom and their guests who were arriving later. Apparently, all the flowers were from the Mother of the Bride’s garden.
Stunning! Up the hill and around the beautiful Victorian gothic Iona Church on its bush clad hillside site, and then onto Lady Thorn (a former Mayoress) Rhododendron Dell, and lookout – sadly we had missed the best of the blooms, but it was a lovely walk with pretty views and guess who we saw anchored and looking delightful in the Port…..Viking Orion! The very cruise ship we boarded in Mumbai in May 2023 for our cruise through the Middle East and onto Athens, we could even see the cabin we had on the stern! Last stop, the Scott Memorial, named after Captain Robert Scott. A tall and gently tapering column of Port Chalmers stone, surmounted by an anchor with a marble tablet inscribed with the names of those who perished on his ill-fated expedition which left Port Chalmers for Antarctica on 19 November 1910. On the grassy site opposite, with the beautiful peninsula views, is this huge anchor, known as the “Nineteen Fathom Foul”. Its origin is mysterious and how it ended up in the harbour is undocumented. However, it was a shipping hazard so in 1978 it was raised from the harbour depths and is now a wonderful monument.
And then it was off for a trip to Dunedin – it is over 20 years since my younger son Dan went to Otago University here and that would have been my last visit here too. Thirteen kilometres along the road from Port Chalmers, we called an uber and went straight into town. It was very busy, despite the fact that the university year has not yet started. For you Brits reading this blog, its name comes from Dùn Èideann ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh and the street layout and many street names are also the same as those in Edinburgh. A tasty lunch in one of the Octagon cafés and then a walk around. Up the 38 Takaka marble steps to St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral which is the seat of the Bishop of Dunedin, it’s first stone being laid in 1915. It is built of Oamaru stone with the nave rising to 65 feet and the aisles made from Italian marble. The detail in the stained-glass windows with their rich colours, is incredible and they looked magnificent with the sun shining through.
A walk to the iconic railway station next – speculated by locals to be the most photographed building in New Zealand. And I’m not surprised. Firstly, the gardens in front have been beautifully landscaped, with a plethora of coloured flowers. Dunedin Railways operates three tourist trains out of the station, the Inlander, the Seasider, and the Victorian. No dedicated inter-city or suburban services operate anymore, unlike in the past when it was the country’s busiest station with 100 trains a day. It is an awesome and very distinctive building. In the Flemish renaissance style, it was constructed in 1904 of dark basalt from Kokonga, a tiny township (the Maori meaning of which is bending river) in the Strath Taieri region of Central Otago, with lighter Oamaru stone facings which give it the distinctive light and dark pattern. Pink granite was used for the supporting pillars which line the colonnade at the front. The booking hall features an incredibly detailed mosaic floor, comprising of 750,000 Minton (from Staffordshire in the UK) tiles depicting a locomotive and related rail symbols, and the four-sided balcony, with its railway themed stained glass windows above, gives you the most wonderful view of it. It’s 37-metre clocktower is visible from most of central Dunedin. It is so beautiful and I’m so glad we took the time to go and look at it. The main platform is the country’s longest at about 500 metres, and conveniently, a train from the Taieri Gorge Railway was idle on the platform which enabled Geoff and I to do a bit of posing for this blog!
Then it was on the bus back to Port Chalmers to change for dinner. When we got into the dinghy to go over to the Carey hotel, I glanced back at Salanjo and there in the distance was the Viking Orion making her way down the channel – I flicked off a photo – it’s tiny in the distance, but it was nice to have a photo of her with Salanjo – two of the boats that have made my life very special. A delicious dinner was had, followed by a Lemoncello nightcap when we got back to Salanjo. A perfect end to a perfect day!
