Dunedin - Edinburgh of the south

I wake up to riotous birdsong and feel slightly less disembodied than yesterday. Maybe, finally, the jet lag is starting to lift. Clouds have moved in overnight and the sky threatens rain. We decide to make the short 15 minute drive into Dunedin and aim for the 10:30am walking tour that leaves from the central Octagon... only we underestimate the delays caused by having to navigate unfamiliar streets and find car parking in the city centre. It takes several circuits of city streets before we find some street parking by which time we have missed the start of the walk. So we do the next best thing and stop for coffee before collecting a city map and doing our own walking tour. The "Edinburgh of the South" does its best impression of a Scottish city with its churches and stone buildings, all rather imposing and grim against a slate-grey sky.

St Paul's Cathedral and the statue of Robert Burns

Town Hall

We duck into the warm and inviting Dunedin Public Art Gallery and explore the collection, including a special exhibition of works by early-twentieth century local painter, Frances Hodgkins. Lunch is at the gallery cafe, where we're warned there is a half hour wait for food because the cafe is full of happy graduands and their families. Students from the University of Otago drift past in their flowing gowns and mortar boards, beaming with pride as they grab a bite before the afternoon's graduation ceremonies.

Dunedin Public Art Gallery

The sun is breaking through the clouds when we emerge from the gallery and suddenly even the austere stone buildings take on a bit more cheer when framed against a blue canvas. 

Gleaming spires - Dunedin

The Dunedin Railway Station is an impossibly grand and beautiful building. Inside, the  carriages of the Taieri Gorge train wait patiently next to the platform.

Dunedin Railway Station

Dunedin Railway Station

Not far from the railway station is the Dunedin Chinese Garden, opened in 2008 in recognition of the Chinese people who first came to Otago in the 1860s gold rush and the subsequent generations who have contributed to commerce in Dunedin. In this little corner of New Zealand, it is an oasis of order, greenery and calm, all perfectly proportioned and constructed using traditional materials and methods imported from Shanghai.

   

In my element at the Dunedin Chinese Garden

Examples of Penjing (pot scenery) - the art of creating mini-landscapes using trees and rocks in containers

At the Dunedin Chinese Garden

As our parking is about to run out, we make our way back to the car, which of course, happens to be on top of a hill. And not just any hill. I reflect on the total deficiency of maps to convey local topography as we unknowingly walk up one of the steepest streets in Dunedin. View Street from Moray Place to Tennyson Street has a gradient of 1:4.4 and if my lungs hadn't been busy bursting from the effort of hauling my body to the top, I would have pulled out my camera. It was so steep it should have had a staircase. Later investigations reveal that up until 2019, Dunedin held the Guinness World Record for the steepest street in the world (remarkably, at a gradient of 1:2.9, one even steeper than View Street). Thank God we didn't park at the top of that one!

After panting and heaving for a while, we're able to resume our journey in the car. Ross gets us to the picturesque Dunedin Botanic Garden where I get more of a green fix.

We only walk around a small part of the gardens which cover the hillside and there are so many amazing colours. New and strange flowers that I haven't seen before! And even an aviary where native and "exotic" birds are kept - exotic to NZ perhaps but familiar old friends like red tailed black cockatoos. 

The rich green wonderland of the Dunedin Botanic Garden

Only a small sample of the beautiful flowers in bloom

From the botanic gardens we make our way back to Port Chalmers and stop along the main street to avail ourselves of the laundrette. While we wait for our washing we walk up the hill to the picturesque Iona Church, which is unfortunately shut. There is a large cruise ship in port and a few tourists wander around the main street. Otherwise town is quiet and after picking up some food from the local supermarket, we return to the laundrette and watch as numerous lorries thunder down the hill towards the port, all heavily laden with logs. It is a miracle there are any trees left in New Zealand.

Iona Church, Port Chalmers

Port Chalmers

We return to our lodgings exhausted after a full but fulfilling day. Our big lunch at the art gallery has meant that some simple snacks suffice for dinner. And then we take up our spots in front of the TV to continue watching "Chernobyl", the drama we started watching last night. It is bleak and sobering viewing but fortunately the birds chattering outside and squeaky bed remind us of our far more pleasant reality.