This is also one of the stops that we didn’t get a group tour on. It is considered “Little Scotland, New Zealand” and we thought we would just walk around. Divine intervention occurred. We found out we would not be allowed to walk from the port to the town. First off, it is a working port and no one was allowed to walk around. Secondly, the cruise line had a bus that would transport you back and forth, but it was for $35 a person. We kind of had a problem with this. They were charging us for a ride to town when we had no other options. We decided to call an Uber. It was going to be less expensive and we decided that we wanted to see the Larnach Castle, which is definitely a drive and not a walk from the city centre. Dennis was our Uber driver. He was fabulous. He told us about himself and his family and about the area. By the time we got to the castle grounds, it was decided that we would hire Dennis for the day. He said he would take it off the books (only the first charge was through Uber) and the rest was him as a guide in his car. He took us to all the fun places we were interested in. He dropped us off in the city centre to wander around and grab lunch and then he picked us back up, took us to a few other spots and dropped us back off again. I think we decided it ended up being $45 per person for the day….and we saw so much. Divine intervention. This was on Feb 6th, which is a national holiday…so we did well to see the things we did. Note to those who might care: if you eat at a restaurant on a holiday, they charge you an extra 15% for eating there and them keeping it open on a holiday. (Not like you have a lot of choice!)
Our first stop was Larnach Castle. There is a fee to walk the grounds and another fee to tour the castle. Having seen many castles in Europe, we weren’t so interested in the tour of the inside of the castle. We did go inside for a sweet treat and coffee in their coffee shop. That was pretty good. We saw tables filled with scones and cream for the tour bus people going through the castle. I had seen photos of the grounds and they were amazing. The castle is up on a hill and so the views are amazing. The gardens are also very beautiful.
Dennis took us looking for sea lions. We went to one beach and found a single sea lion but then hit the jackpot when he took us to Allan’s Beach. It was amazing to walk along the beach and see all the sealions laying around and flapping sand on their backs. We even had to go around one who had managed to wiggle itself onto the sandy path through the dunes and settled itself by the sea lion sign (which was kinda funny). This was the first mammals we had seen since coming to New Zealand, so we were pretty excited! The sea lions in this area have a lifespan of 18-23 years. The Dunedin area is considered the wildlife capital of New Zealand as there are a lot of seals, sea lions, albatrosses, and penguins. The hills around us held sheep and horses and it was truly like being in Scotland – we even found some thistle!
At the mouth of the harbor, they have these statues called “the molars”. They look just like they are named. I found it oddly fascinating.
Dennis dropped us off in Dunedin to walk around and have some lunch. I once again tried a local ginger beer. The railroad station is something to looks at! We also walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral and took a peek in there.
Dennis took us on a ride through some old cemeteries and the aviary and gardens. We hit Signal Hill for some great views of the port from higher up and then went to Baldwin Street, which is in the Guinness world record book for the steepest in the world with a 30 % incline. Dennis told us that Dunedin (which is on the Southern Island of New Zealand, has the 2nd highest population behind Christchurch. He said that there was a university in the city which was the #1 employer of the city, with dairy farming and timber farming rounding out the top three. He was also able to tell us a bit more about politics in New Zealand. (You never really want to ask…. but if they offer, it is interesting to learn about.) The parties on the left (who are mainly liberal) are the labor party, the green party and the Māori party. The more conservative parties on the right are the New Zealand 1st party, the National party, and the ACT New Zealand party.
Messina Musings 