Nov 12th – 14th – Our trip from Te Anau to Dunedin was fairly boring when compared to all the lovely places we’ve been. The landscape could best be described as relatively flat pasture land with large farming operations of sheep and cattle. We passed through lots of little hamlets and stopped in the town of Gore for lunch. Our afternoon stop was in Balclutha to tour their museum. It was absolutely packed to the rafters with stuff and the curator was quite a character in his own right. The biggest story in the museum was about Amy Bock, who impersonated a male and married her land lady’s daughter. She was found out three days later and charged! How interesting to find a Bell & Co organ made in Guelph in the museum – originally installed in St. Mary’s church.

About 4pm we arrived in Dunedin, found our B&B (up a very steep hill) and made plans for our stay here. The B&B is an Art Deco style house built in the 1930s for a ship’s captain. The owner, Joyce, is a nurse who has lived/travelled all around the world prior to raising her twenty-year-old son as a single mom. She is quite eccentric,  and the house is chock full of various collections (mirrors, plates, buttons, zipper pulls, ceramic cats, art, etc., etc.). I’d say it’s a dusting nightmare. Three years ago a widower, Dave, stayed there for three weeks while his son was in hospital and a relationship developed. They married last year.

After settling in, we decided to take a drive out the Otago Peninsula, where there is a penguin colony and the world’s only mainland breeding colony of Royal Albatross. Since the Albatross are not viewable at this time of year and we have seen the penguins in Australia, we decided not to pay the rather steep fee to tour the site…besides which, it was downright cold out there! On the way back we stopped at a pub and had Blue Cod, a local fish, for dinner. The picture is looking back towards Dunedin as the sun sets behind the mountain.

Wednesday morning we drove downtown and took a two-hour bus tour of the city. We certainly learned a lot:

• The city was settled in 1844 by a group of Scots, who wanted to establish a free church
• Dunedin is the Gaelic name for Edinburgh
• Originally, the plan was to lay out the city in the same way as Edinburgh, but when they got here, the topography was very different so changes had to be made
• Dunedin is the fifth largest city in New Zealand and the University of Otago accounts for 25 percent of the city’s economy
• Otago was the first university in the world to admit women
• New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote
• Dunedin is home to the steepest street in the world with a grade of 35 percent

After the tour we paid a visit to the Botanic Gardens, the first in New Zealand and the first to employ women gardeners. The rhodos were just about finished and the roses were struggling with aphids but it was pleasant nonetheless.

Joyce and Dave invited us to a BBQ they were hosting. We accepted the invitation and spent a few pleasant hours enjoying food, wine and conversation on the deck until the sun started to dip behind the mountain and it got too cool.