Downhill Dunedin

Instead of doing a formal excursion, we decided to explore on our own at the Port Chalmers/Dunedin port of call.  We took a shuttle bus over to Dunedin from Port Chalmers – about a 20 minute ride.  Oh, and in case you’re wondering, a resident helped us pronounce Dunedin – it’s pronounced “doo-NA-din”.   And, altho we ended up walking the town in a sort of octagon pattern (the “downtown” area is actually called The Octagon”), it was most definitely downhill, and a fairly steep one to begin with!!

When we got off the shuttle, the first thing we saw was the town hall.  Quite an impressive building for what is really a nice sized town, not a city – population was just under 120,000 in 2016.

I loved this water fountain and the seagulls enjoying it.  I think of it as an infinity pool for them!!  Just a touch of whimsy in what promised to be a very cool town!

Altho this building is called the Otago Daily Times building, the emblem actually reads, “The Star – 150 years”.  I guess the newspaper is or was called The Star.  Many things in town had a reference to Otago.  I wondered what that was, and it turns out it’s the region of southeast New Zealand in which Dunedin is located, on the South Island.  There are two main islands of New Zealand – just fyi.  

Just down the hill is the Law Courts building.  It’s a really impressive building, and one of the things we noticed within a block of the Law Courts were a hotel, the Law Courts hotel (which had a great sign) and two pub/taverns, called The Jury Room and Whig’s Pub!  

The Law Courts building was completed in 1902, on the site of the first gaol, where the jail originally was.  Also, when this building was first opened, the harbor came up to the base of this building! 

This building, to the side of the Law Courts building, was the original prison.  It’s now closed as a prison, but I noticed a sign next to this building – it’s apparently used for social occasions!!  Kind of quirky!

We were excited about the possibility of a tour of a Cadbury Candy factory!  However, this company has left this site and the building is closed.  A new owner is planning to recreate the factory and offer tours within the next few years.  Any samples??  That is still to be determined!!

At the bottom of the hill, sitting on reclaimed land, land that was once water in the harbor, sits the Dunedin Railway Station!  This is where the train that passes thru Port Chalmers originates and it’s still operational!  They offer a variety of train rides, too.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to take one on our day trip here.

This station was completed in 1906 and was the largest railway station in New Zealand.  I really liked the emblem of the station that is etched into the glass windows of the station.  I also love the look of the inside of this train station.  Altho there are benches there now, the windows behind them were once the ticket windows.

After walking thru the station from the front to the back, we came to the train platform.  Again, I was struck by the historic charm of this station.  I was pretty lucky, too – I managed to get this shot when people weren’t out here wandering around!

Just outside the historic railway station, I noticed this piece of whimsy of a modern design.  It’s a bicycle rack!  Can you see how the stand spells out the word “cycle”?

Also outside the formal railway station, and in a museum next door, was this very interesting train engine.  It is named Josephine, and was built in 1872.  I think of this engine as a sort of railroad tug.  I call it that because it has an engine on both sides – the mechanics of the car sits in the middle, so either side of it can be the “front”!  It reminds me of the tug boats that we saw in the harbors - many of them have 2 fronts to the boats!  And, since we’re at the bottom of the hill, that means it’s all uphill for the next blog post!

Enjoy!