Christchurch -> Dunedin

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13th Feb 2009

Today we are heading for Dunedin, we are a little late leaving and have a long drive ahead. We stop at a berry farm on the way, they sell tasty berry sundaes and fresh berry shakes. We take another break at a tiny village called Moeraki, on the beach there are perfectly formed spherical rocks known as Moeraki Boulders. They are pparently 60 million years old and Maori legend claims they were food baskets brought on one of the ancestral canoes that brought them to New Zealand.

We arrive in Dunedin around 5pm and walk into the city. It is a very compact city and at its heart is an area known as the Octagon. This town has a strong link with Scotland and it is not surprsing to find a statue of Robbie Burns at the centre of the Octagon, St Pauls Cathedral is also stands in the Octagon but it is not quite as grand as its London counterpart. There are streets running in concentric circles from this place and there are numerous churches and examples of buildings with scottish architecture.

We stroll along to Dunedin train station, it is a very picturesque building designed in a flemish renaissance style and is worthy of a photograph, it has a well manicured lawn and flower bed in front of it known as Anzac square. The colums of the station are made of Aberdeen granite. According to a signpost in Anzac square we are some 14,502 Km from Portsmouth. We take a drink at the Scotia bar in the station, served by a guy fron Pitlochrie and I try a dram of Highland Park which he recommends. We dine at Etrusco an Italian restaurant, have a beer at an Irish pub and listen to a local Irish style band then back to the motel. Tomorrow we drive to Invercargill.

We stayed at The Alexis

A map of our route

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Photos

Moeraki Boulders
60 million year old spherical rocks on the beach

Robbie Burns Statue
In the centre of the octagon in Dunedin

Dunedin Train Station
The most photographed building in New Zealand