We've Done Dunedin!

Manda writes:

I woke up feeling achy this morning. Ian parked the van on a slope last night (near one of Dunedin's main lookouts, Signal Hill) and I spent most of the night waking up and crawling back up to my pillow. Ian, too, had a restless night as he kept sliding down in his sleeping bag - an experience not too dissimilar from a trip on the luge. Note to self: check parking spot to make sure that 1) we are not parked next to sheep cr*p and 2) we are not trying to immitate the Tower of Pisa! :-)

Since we were in the general vicinity, our first stop was Signal Hill, a lookout point above the town. It was a nice enough view as views go. To be honest, I was a little preoccupied as I'd spotted a 'vulture' eying up an abandoned car for spare parts for his old banger. He seemed to pay some interest in our rental van too! Time to make a sharp exit.

We drove across to the highest point on the Otago Peninsula to visit New Zealand's only castle - Larnach Castle. Built by JWM Larnach in 1871, this is an architectural beauty and is surrounded by panoramic scenery. We could even see Dunedin and the Otago Harbour from here. We took a walk around the grounds but didn't actually go inside the castle.

Larnach Castle, Dunedin.

While in the gardens, a stray cat approached Ian. He bent down and stroked it. Not the usual thing Ian would do as he is more of a dog-person. But Zorro, Ted and Barbara's neighbour's cat (long story: check out our Auckland posts) seems to have broken the spell! He is beginning to warm to cats now!

Back on the mainland, the next stop was Baldwin Street. This famous street is listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the steepest street in the world. Ian walked, correction, jogged up to the top and back down again. I had the easier task of taking photos and recording all on to film from the base of the hill.

Baldwin Street, listed as the world's steepest street.

Ian adds: OK, I only jogged up part of the hill, and it had nothing to do with my physical prowess (what!?) but more to do with the fact that if I was gonna get to the top of that darn steep hill, I intended to get it done as soon as I could. As it happens, my legs were like jelly when I next climbed out of the van some 20 minutes after leaving Baldwin Street!

We then headed back in to the centre of Dunedin to see what other attractions the information centre could suggest at almost 4pm on a Sunday. The answer was none, so we made do with taking photos of the older buildings around town. This is no bad thing, actually, as Dunedin has some lovely old buildings, not least the railway station and St Paul's Cathedral. The city has a very strong Scottish background that it is very proud of: in the centre of 'The Octogan' (instead of a boring old square!) is a statue of Robert Burns. In fact, the name Dunedin is Gaelic for 'Edinburgh'. Having been to Edinburgh, it became clear why so many of the street names in Dunedin seemed familar. Once we'd grabbed our photos, I concluded that we'd pretty much 'done Dunedin'.

St Pauls Cathedral and Dunedin Town Hall.