Daily Photo – Old Taieri Ferry Road Bridge

After the turn-off to Henley, the road slipped into that gentle kind of countryside where nothing much seems to happen, and that’s exactly the appeal. A few paddocks, a weathered mailbox or two, and then a striking red bridge appears, stretching over the Taieri River. The ironwork, a splash of colour against the green hillside and blue water below, it was all very pleasant.

I knew I should probably have kept going straight to Milton, but curiosity gets the better of me when I’m on the road. So I stopped, wandered down to the riverbank, and admired how the bridge stood and its surroundings. There’s a stillness to places like this that you don’t get anywhere near a highway.

Later on, I learned the river was once crossed by punt long before any structure like this existed. I remember once reading that the old Taieri Ferry was one of several operating along the river in the 1800s, a simple wooden flat-bottomed craft that carried farmers, travellers, and the odd cartload of sheep across, depending on the season and the river’s mood. Before bridges, these ferries were lifelines, often run by local families who knew the currents as well as their neighbours.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about travelling through South Otago, it’s that the detours are always worth it. They’re where you find the places that don’t try to impress you, they just quietly invite you to pause, look, and imagine all the small stories that have passed this way before.