Sir Edmund Hillary Explorer Tour - Wed 19 Apr 2023 - Aoraki Mt. Cook - Oamaru - Dunedin

Day 5 for us, instructions - bags out to reception at 7:30, 8:00am - Board coaches for Oamaru via Omarama & Waitaki Valley. 12 noon - Arrive in Oamaru and go to Loan & Merc for lunch. 1:45pm - Board train at Oamaru Station. 4:45pm - Train arrives in Dunedin Nothing too memorable from this day apart from morning cuppa stop and then lunch at an old refurbished Wool Sorting Warehouse that had been converted to a Cafe, and a train ride.

The Wrinkly Rams Cafe was on the Omarama-Lindis Pass Rd, not far from the Omarama Golf Course. This is a photo Cody took of myself and David Watts, who had been looking to catch up with me from the seeing the name Mankelow from Tauranga on the Passenger List. David was wondering if I knew a Royce Mankelow who used to be the Head Shepherd at Poripori Farm along with David's father in the Kaimais. A link to Google Maps Royce being my first cousin, I tried to contact via Messenger, in the hope of putting the two together in conversation. I learned that later that with Royce's Chrissie not being well, they were no longer connected via computer.
After the Wrinkly Ram (Fluids out/fluids in) stop we were on the Omarama-Otematata Rd, through Otematata and past Lake Aviemore and then Lake Waitaki, where we had a stop by the hyrdo scheme there.

Lake Waitaki is the smallest, oldest and most downstream of the three man-made lakes on the Waitaki River, and forms part of the Waitaki hydroelectric scheme in New Zealand's South Island. It lies downstream of lakes Aviemore and Benmore on the Waitaki River, close to the town of Kurow. It is part of the traditional boundary of the Canterbury and Otago regions (although the official border has been moved southward to include the entire lake, as well as the entire northwest portion of Waitaki District within the Canterbury Region
As we were travelling Phillip or his daughter would give us an occasional commentary of what we were seeing out the windows or about to see, and so we got a run down on the power schemes and various lakes in line. Also alongside the crop fields, we could occasionally see built up earth mounds to create long canals of water for irrigating the various crops. Some serious earth moving for that!

For the Lake Waitaki photo we were able to get off the bus for a photo opportunity, the photo of a crop field was a bus window shot while on the move and smart phone geo location shows this was on the Kurow-Duntroon Rd, Duntroon - Otekaieke.
The river photo, shows as just past the Duntroon School and Maerewhenua River

And so down to join SH2 and head to Oamaru. Schedule for the day included; 12 Noon - Arrive in Oamaru and go to Loan & Merc for lunch Loan & Merc was a vast space with lots of solid pillars holding up the floor above, which I imagined was for handling wool bales but nowadays was a catering venue, and from their own website specialised in Wedding Functions
While having lunch, Cody had looked up on-line Scotts Brewing right nearby, so he made time for a quick visit and came back to the Coaches carrying a handful of craft beers. Scotts Brewing weren't actually open for business at that time but he found a door open and someone he convinced to let him do a quick browse and purchase his choice from Scotts Brewing Co. 1 Wansbeck Street, South Hill, Oamaru 9400
Post lunch we were expected to reboard our Coaches at 1:20 to be taken to the Railway Station to board our Dunedin bound train at 1:45. There were a number of volunteers keeping the train running through to Dunedin, as part of Dunedin Railways, with their website explaining the various trips they offer.
I asked one of the volunteer guards if this route was the same as what I traveled when with the 1st Tauranga Scout group contingent to the National Jamboree in Dunedin in 1961. The answer was there were a few changes to route since that time. Also noticed signs / placards held up by people that gave the message 'Bring back passenger rail to Dunedin'