Dunedin

Dunedin (Dec 3, 2016)

Dec 3 (Sat) - Dunedin

            This morning we woke up around 5 AM to a beautiful New Zealand sunrise.

New Zealand sunrise

After breakfast we gathered what we needed for our first New Zealand excursion. We are in Dunedin (done-knee-done), a city settled by the Scottish. Our tour bus passed through Dunedin on the way to the Otago Peninsula.

Tooth sculptures in Dunedin

Otago Peninsula, about 15 miles long,  provides scenic coastlines, rare wildlife, and several attractions.

Otago Peninsula

The first place we went to was "Natures Wonders", a large farm area dedicated to preserving wildlife in its natural habitat. We went in land rovers to see the wildlife.

Natures Wonders

We saw seals with baby seals. They were just out on the rocks. We then saw some baby penguins in nests. They are hidden in nests among the foliage to protect them from predators. We were able to peak into a few nests.

Seal on the rocks

Sheep at Natures Wonders

We then went to Glenfalloch (Gaelic for hidden glen) Woodland Gardens, a homestead built in 1871. It has a tearoom where we had lamb for lunch. They also had a beautiful garden.

Glenfalloch Gardens tearoom

Three gardeners

Over the bridge

Tall flowers

Just riding from one site to another on the peninsula is interesting.

Overgrown house

We next went to Larch Castle, New Zealand's only castle. It is not really a castle (no royalty here), but was built by a Scottish businessman patterned after baronial castles in Scotland. It was a beautiful structure, with intercut carving for the trim. The family who owned it had a lot of tragedy.

Larch Castle

Parlor in the Castle

We walked through the gardens. It rained a little while we were inside. It cleared up when we came out.

A walk through the garden

Couple under the canapé 

Through the tunnel

She likes wisteria

Reflection pond

 We returned to Dunedin for a few more stops. We were to go to the Cadbury chocolate factory, but they were closed by the time we got there so we went to a grocery store to let everybody load up on chocolate. It ends up that chocolate (and most of the other candy) in New Zealand is not gluten-free. So much for moving to New Zealand.

Cadbury chocolate factory

We stopped by the Dunedin Railway Station, one of New Zealand's best historic buildings for architecture. It was raining and we had little time, but it was good to see the building.

Dunedin Railway Station

Railway architecture

Floor tile inside the station

On the train platform

When we got back to the ship it was raining hard and we got soaked. We fortunately were able to return to the room before going to dinner.

To be continued: