Le Petit Chateau: Railway to Gold Tour

Today were off on a trip recommended by friends and one we have been looking forward to. The Railroad to Gold tour operated by the Taieri Gorge Railway takes in a train journey on the Seasider up the Coastal route from Dunedin to Palmerston we then transfer to a bus operated by Oceana Gold Tours for a 2 hour tour of the Macraes Flat Gold mine, preceded by lunch at a country pub and followed by afternoon tea. We are then driven back to meet the Taieri Gorge train for the journey back through the Taieri Gorge to Dunedin. A full on day.

The day was miserable weather wise, something we couldn’t control , and we arrived in plenty of time at Dunedins beautiful station.

We found our seats and the train departed right on time at 0930 foe the trip around the edge of Otago Harbour, past Port Chalmers and along the coast past Seacliff , Waikouaiti and Goodwood (the scene of the last spike ceremony when the

Christchurch to Dunedin line was joined in 1878). We continued on to Palmerston where our bus was waiting for us.

Lunch was at the old Highwayman Hotel in Dunback before the bus took us the halfhour journey to Macraes Mine. Unfortunately the rain continued and as we moved up in to the hills so did the mist. The mine, which is the largest in New Zealand is open cast and has a massive hole dug into the hillside.

The largest pit in NZ Caterpillar 785C Dump Truck

Each of the Caterpillar 785C trucks can haul 190tonnes per trip and run 24 hours a day. Their tanks hold 3000 litres of diesel and use 1 tank full in a 12 hour shift. The processing plant which has cutting edge technology uses a unique processing system needed for the low grade ore available in this area. Only 1 gram of gold is extracted from each truck load of ore. We were taken down to the historic site where the early miners lived and worked, a bleak windswept valley which gets down to –12 deg in winter.

The miners and their families lived in tiny one bedroomed huts with up to 7 people in them and blasted and hand dug the ore for crushing in the on site battery stamper.

Miners Cottage Battery Stamper

Back to historic Stanley’s Hotel for afternoon tea and then the 1 hour drive to pick up the train from Pukerangi Station.

The journey back through the Taieri Gorge has to be one of the great train journeys of all time. The train winds it’s way along the banks of the gorge with magnificent cliffs on either side and the fast flowing river and rapids down below.