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Otago

Caversham Tunnel

Dunedin City District

The abandoned Caversham railway tunnel

Hiding in plain sight. This sneaky tunnel is dug though 865 meter of solid sandstone below Lookout Point back in 1871. Now just sitting here locked up on both ends, with only a handful of people trying to open it. The city has deemed it to much of a bother to deal with. With having a death toll of 3, mostly people falling from the train as it passed through the tunnel. Either way you look at it, it's there and we should be using it for something. Get out and go have a look. It's pretty neat really.


Directions

This one has got to be the easiest to get to yet. At the Caversham side, just park up somewhere at the bottom of the Caversham motor way before it starts up the hill. Get to the incoming traffic side of the road and walk down the little path that goes into the bush. Not scary at all. The other side is not really accessible, it is very fenced up just off of Kaikorai Valley Rd down in a ditch.


Helpful links

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

It was raining and dark. I hadn't been here before and the plans I had made were falling through very fast. So after driving around looking for a park to venture to a tunnel I wasn't sure where was, I saw what could only resemble an old cutting. I followed the trail into the darkness with only my cell phone to give me a bit of light. It was sheltered from the rain over head as it got deeper and deeper.

I finally saw the tunnel, very well sealed shut with a massive iron gate. Not much of a story I know. Kind of just a dead end. But I did have some steel wool on me. So I set up my camera and let the wool burn. Made for an alright picture.

Locked out - Stu