McVey Kiwi News: Dunedin and the Surrounding Area

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Wednesday 27 March 2013

Dunedin and the Surrounding Area

We'd been told that Dunedin was not picturesque

but we'd disagree for sure! We found it most beautiful

and full of sites to explore and things to do.

Let's start with the beautiful setting right in Dunedin! It was

rainy and overcast when we arrived but you can see below the

full picture! Dunedin is at the far right with the Pacific off

in the distance. Cruise ships come to the port in the middle

of the picture and disembark passengers who catch a train for

the ride into Dunedin.

Here you can see the city and it's setting from the north

Here's the setting from the south

The little piece of land in the middle of the
photo is where the ships come to dock

You should be able to make out the lighthouse on the head of
land to the left. At the top of that area is where the
National Albatross Center is located. We'll see it a little later.

There were two cruise ships in port while we were there

The inner city is full of fun. Below you see Ann

pointing not at the truck, but at the

CADBURY CHOCOLATE the truck represents!

Near the train station was this skateboard park

One of the attractions in the area is "Baldwin Street"

known as the World's Steepest Street.

Dunedin is full of gothic style buildings

This is the world renowned train station

Here's a sampling of the other buildings around town.

One of the interesting places to visit in town

is the "Settler's Museum".

One of the attractions around Dunedin is the Larnach Castle.

It's actually about 30 minutes outside Dunedin on the hills south

of town. They call it a castle, but it's really just a large beautiful home that looks like a castle on the outside.

The views of the grounds from atop the castle are very picturesque

The above & below views are looking from the castle top to the

northwest and entrance to the Dunedin harbor

The views below are around the castle grounds

Then a little further out from the Larnach Castle is the

Royal Albatross Centre. It offers a tremendous study of one of the largest birds in the world with a wingspan

approaching 8 feet or 2 meters.

There's a beautiful lighthouse that overlooks the entrance to the harbor. You can't visit the lighthouse because you'd
tramp through the Albatross nesting fields.

The view is amazing from atop the Albatross Centre.
If you look closely you can see about 8 white spots in the green
grass of this photo. Each of them is an Albatross.

If you were wondering, the photo below gives you
a representation of the size of an Albatross

This is a seagull chick, not an Albatross

And you thought you'd see all the seal photos we had...

there were some at the base of the Albatross Centre

A little seal slobber isn't too bad

The last thing we did based out of Dunedin was to take the Taieri Gorge Train. It's a 4-hour ride that takes you though an
amazing gorge that offers great views.