Blogs from Dunedin, Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Geo: -45.8746, 170.503Was very excited to get to Dunedin which is in Otago Region of the Southern Island, which I first became aware of when travelling to Wellington years ago for work and was exposed to the Otago Highlanders in the elite rugby league.Dunedin is the 2nd largest city in NZ in terms of land mass next to Auckland and is the 7th largest city in terms of population (approximately 120,000), but is recognized as one of 4 main cities for historic, cultural and geographic reasons (plus Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch) - 2 islands their main north and south cities. The maori name is Otepoti - the place beyond which one cannot go, where waka (canoes) had to be put ashore.Dunedin is the modified gaelic word for Edinburgh. Dùn Èideann. The Scots and English settlers arrived in ... read more

Monday 9th December, 2013. Dunedin and Penguins Dunedin is Gaelic for "Edinburgh of the South" and was originally setlled by the Scots in 1848. It is the furthest city away from London in the world - 19,100 km (11,870 miles). It has a population of about 120,00 people. Apologies for this longer than normal blog - we did a hell of a lot today. After breakfast we set off an a self-guided city tour of the city. Our first stop was St Paul's Anglican Cathedral. The cathedral is built in a West to East direction instead of the traditional East to West due to the lie of the hill. The building has many beautiful stained glass windows but the largest is The War Memorial Window which is located above the Great Door. This window honours all ... read more

Geo: -45.8746, 170.503After some overnight rain we woke to a cold but clear morning. We ordered some room service breakfast as we had an early start, needing to be in Te Anau by 12.00 pm to catch a trip to the Glow Worm Caves. We refuelled the car for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised at both the price of fuel and the low amount of diesel that the Santa Fe had actually used. The trip down highway 1 was pleasing on the eyes but Debi complained of a headache because she saw two many sheep.Our first stop was Gore, the Brown Trout capital of the South Island, here we found the Hokonui Moonshine Museum and the home of the south's illicit whiskey making. This was well worth a stop and we even tried ... read more

Geo: -45.8746, 170.503Crossing the southern tip of the South Island was all about dodging sheep (there are a reported 20 sheep for every person on the South Island- very believable as the little fur balls are everywhere), but the cows are omnipresent as are the deer farms (apparently the deer are captured via helicopter in the massive Fjordland National Park and moved to venison farms outside the boundaries- they are not native to NZ and are destroying the sensitive local flora). We rolled into Dunedin with just enough time to get Big Blue comfortable for the night and race down to the local stadium for our first taste of top flight New Zealand Rugby. Rugby is a religious state of mind in New Zealand in much the same way that the sport of hockey is in ... read more

We set off in the morning, with the promise of sunny but brisk autumn weather, to the Otago Peninsula. After travelling along the harbour, we took a narrow road, surrounded by cliffs to the Larnach Castle - New Zealand's only castle, built in 1871. Of course, this 'castle' was more of a large estate home than the castles found across Europe. Not only did we explore all the handcrafted rooms of this lavish estate but we also wandered through the beautifully shaded gardens, full of swans, flowers and sculptures. One of my favourite plants that I encountered was the 'black grass' - I like it's macabre appearance. After a spot of tea by the fireplace in the cafe, Sarah and I played between the Alice and Wonderland statues and sat in the Queen of Heart's chair. ... read more