We have stayed in a variety of lodgings along the way, from a top-notch corner suite in Wellington to the only available motel in Invercargill.
In Dunedin, we stayed in a converted old mansion. We had four rooms with a quiet bedroom at the back end of the apartment. Tall ceilings, sash hung windows, an odd collection of light switches, including string hung from buttons on the ceiling, and what had been a working fireplace in a tiny living room made it a fun place to discover. One feature, that we have seen in several places is the ‘wet room’ shower/bath. I don’t understand the concept. Its just too messy.
There were two portable heaters in lieu of central heating and the windows were not sealed, but it was comfortable.
Just behind the hotel there was a boardwalk with various restaurants, a parking area where people quietly stayed in their little camper vans and a long stretch of beautiful beach to walk in the early morning. The surfers were out at high tide. I had avocado toast one morning – there isn’t a restaurant in Calgary that can match a Kiwi or Aussie smashed avo breakfast – I’ve tried!
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Tourists are advised to start their adventures in Dunedin at the Octagon downtown. The concept is good, but there is too much traffic permitted in the area and, as Ken said, it needs a good power washing.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church lies just off one side of the Octagon. There are beautiful churches in every town. This one has had a history of poor construction, rebuilds and long delayed completion. The most recent calamity was a fire in the chancellery in 2020. It has been rebuilt in the same footprint, but with very modern materials. No effort was made to replicate the original finishings in the rest of the church. It is immediately noticeable, but fits.
On the other side of the Octagon, it is a short walk to the train station and court house. Both are more Victorian or Edwardian in style and remind you of a time when train travel was glamorous, not merely functional.
Train Station Detail
Dunedin boasts the steepest residential street in the world. Pity the poor people who live on there! Tourists are obnoxious. Most would take a photo or two. The intrepid walked up the hill and were especially proud if they could do it in one go.
One older fellow on an e-bike managed to reach the top. We were talking to his wife when he came back down and when we asked him if he used the electric power his response was,, “Damn Right I Did!”
Ken did the walk without stopping, unlike most other people. At the top he had a conversation with a retired journalist, who was selling a book about the hill. He said that the books sold well if he sat at the top, but none if he sat at the bottom. He added that the people who made it to the top felt a sense of accomplishment, whereas the people at the bottom were just lookers.
However, there were people taking pictures of private homes, sitting in the middle of the road, posing for their instagrams or whatever. One gentleman set up a camera and recorded himself sashaying down the hill. It took several shots to get it right. Part of the crowd that was sitting in the middle of the road then climbed into a big ass SUV and came roaring up the hill without regard for the scrambling walkers and came screaming back down to the T intersection at the bottom of the hill. Tour buses kept stopping on the lower road to allow their riders to get an ineffectual picture of the hill.
Our last stop of the day was a visit to Larnach Castle. The road up to the grounds winds up one side of the bay. It is steep and the edges are as nauseating as the Going to the Sun Highway in Montana. The most recent owners have spent two generations refurbishing the building and adding accommodation and restaurants to make it a viable destination.
The gardens are well done but difficult to navigate when the patrons of two cruise ships join you on your tour. The castle’s floors are uneven and creaky. I was genuinely afraid that the structure could not handle a cheek by jowl crush of so many people.
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On the drive to Christchurch we stopped to see the round rocks at Moeraki Beach. They look like oversized cannon balls from early European times. It was believed for a long time that the balls took hundreds of years to form – they weigh several tons. A Japanese university has been studying examples in their own country and has found that the balls form around organic material and are concretions. They actually form quickly. I would have to read a bit more to understand how it works, but “Go Biology!” The sand levels at the beach were high enough to cover probably two thirds of the rocks in the area.
There is a lot of sand on New Zealand beaches. There may be a shortage in some parts of the world, but not here.
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We have been curious about the styles of travel trailers on the islands, so we stopped at a dealer for a bit of a break. We don’t know if the ones we saw are constructed here, but they had a European feel about them and had some practical, attractive floor plans. There are also odd-looking models from the 70s still available to rent or buy. When Mike and Amanda were here in 2012, they met families still living in them two years after the September 2010 and February earthquakes.
We’re off to Nelson next.