2015 New Zealand
 

Day 2 - 09/09/2015 Dunedin

2015 New Zealand
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Our holiday begins as all of the travel crap is behind us. Now for breakfast in the B&B. One thing that is obvious for the first time, now that I’m off sugar, is how easy it is to consume too much sugar at breakfast. There are three jars of jams, sugar for the coffee/tea and the weet bix, stewed peaches for the cereals, and yoghurt. I eschew the lot. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The B&B is run by a retired couple and they have two rooms in which to accommodate their guests. The first thing we notice is that our room is warm, cozy and electrically heated. We learn later that electricity is cheap in New Zealand. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Next morning the sky is clear and we can see Timaru township across the bay. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ After breakfast we go for a walk along the cliff top near the B&B.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The sun rises in the east and reflects across the water. It's very peaceful. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ There’s an abattoir near here and Jenni is convinced she can hear animals screaming in their death throes. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Our B&B is on the outskirts of Timaru so, before joining the highway, we detour into the township on our way south. It’s very pretty and typical of the towns on the South Island that we’ve seen so far. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ They all look a bit weather beaten though and we decide that they are similar but different to Australian country towns. We put this down to a common ancestor; Victorian England.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ If there were a vote for the world's ugliest car, this would be it. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The breakfast at the B&B was great but we still need a cappuccino. The coffee in NZ is as good as Australia's. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Our destination for today is Dunedin, a city about which we know nothing. It is 364 Kms from Christchurch. To the west is Queenstown and the mountains of the Southern Alps. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ After leaving Timaru, the road changes from boring flat farmland to boring rolling hills farmland. The driving is particularly easy. There are many large, milk processing plants along the way. The farmland continues and, as our direction of travel is south, we can see snow-capped peaks of the Alps to the west.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Wind must be a problem in NZ. I think this row of trees is poplars. To me, it's disappointing that the settlers destroyed so much of NZ's natural flora and replaced it with their own British stuff. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The Waitaki River empties into the sea just before Oamaru. It’s a beautiful spot and we stop for a photo session. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Not that we stopped to taste it, but the water is probably snow melt from the distant Southern Alps. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The Southern Alps lie along a geological plate boundary with the Pacific Plate pushing westward and colliding with the northward moving Indo-Australian Plate.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Over the last 45 million years, the collision has pushed up a 20 km thickness of rocks on the Pacific Plate to form the Alps, although much of this has been eroded away. (Wikipedia) Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ It is a truly beautiful spot. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Next stop is Oamaru which is nestled between the Alps and the ocean. What a wonderful place to build a city. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Oamaru has a population of 13,650 and is the second largest city in Otago behind Dunedin.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Otago is a region of NZ administered by the Otago Regional Council. A NZ Region is the equivalent of a local Government Area in NSW. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This is an historical museum run by the Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ On Sundays, the society operates a steam train that runs between Harbourside and a terminus at Oamaru harbour. The terminus is close to the Little Blue Penguin colony. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Some of the buildings in this area have seen better days and appear to be abandoned.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ As we leave Oamaru, we get a good look at the Alps farther to the South. What a setting! I'm starting to notice the predominance of European trees, shrubs and hedges. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ We continue travelling south and see more of these giant hedges. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Just to the north of Palmerston, we stop and admire a large sandy beach with a proper Pacific Ocean surf running. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ I speak with a local and have my first experience with the NZ accent. He tells me that his son would love to be surfing in it. I reply, “Not for me.” “Yis, ut’s a wee b’t ch’lly."
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ It is a little windy and it is indeed a little chilly. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ A pleasant feature of the South Island is the lack of traffic and the high quality of the roads. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ We reach the outskirts of Dunedin, the South Island's largest city. Until 1900 Dunedin was NZ's largest city. It is currently ranked 8th with a population of 118,000. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ There are huge cathedrals here as, once again, organised religions move in to scare money out of the working classes.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Jenni books our accommodation for the night at the nearby Info Centre. Not too bad, a suite for $A116 a night. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ St Paul's Cathedral and the Dunedin Town Hall, the seat of the Dunedin City Council. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The parkland in front of the Town Hall is called The Octagon in which sits a statue of famed Scottish poet Robert Burns. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year),
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The Octagon is now the centre of the city's cafe culture, with many al fresco dining areas. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This is the Dunedin Cenotaph in Queens Gardens. There is also a statue of Queen Victoria in the park. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ When you walk around Dunedin you can see that it was once a very grand city but it looks a bit run down now as these abandoned buildings show. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The basic buildings are fabulous and with a coat of paint, in heritage colours perhaps, the place would look spectacular. Squatters occupy this derelict, once magnificent, building on the east side of town near Victoria Park. A girl squatter sits in the window on the first floor.
There is a squatter sitting in the window of this abandoned building
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Jenni thought this decoration on an abandoned building was as good as it gets. The building is on the opposite corner from the Gresham Hotel in the previous picture. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This is the entrance of the Dunedin Chinese Garden. We decide not to go in. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Not going in was a mistake as this commercial photograph shows. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Dunedin's nickname is Edinburgh of the South. Edinburgh, Scotland was used for inspiration when designing the layout of the town. That's the Dunedin railway station in the distance.
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ We visit the Otago Museum and I talk with one of the officers there. He tells me that: "Dunedin is known as NZ’s first great city. Discoveries of gold in the 1800’s made it NZ’s richest city. Gold caused Europeans to flood in . . . Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ . . . There was also whaling in the 1820’s and Maoris were equal partners in the enterprise. As Europeans (Presbyterian Scots mainly) took over, so the Maoris were slowly disenfranchised. The whaling sloop on display is a reminder of the change in the Maoris’ social status and their economic demotion," he concluded. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ NZ shared the frontier experiences with Australia and the USA. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Jenni at the Treasures from Around the Globe exhibit. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ There is an extensive transport section in the museum as well as an ICT section. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This is the Dunedin railway station located in ANZAC Square. It is a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 building. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ
Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ It took 3 years to construct and opened in 1906. At the time, it was NZ's busiest railway station. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ When the Queen of England visited Australia for the first time in 1954, the Anglophile prime minister Sir Robert Menzies quoted lines 3 and 4 of the first stanza in his welcoming speech. The story goes that the Queen blushed. English poet Thomas Ford wrote the poem. Day 2 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Another abandoned, once grand, building in Dunedin. It's weird that developers haven't grabbed these buildings and turned them into central city apartments. I suspect the heritage laws work against protecting Dunedin's heritage: like-for-like and other impossible restrictions.  
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