Today I’ll start with a little education I’ve gotten about names of some of the places I’ve been. I’ve already mentioned about some of our earlier ports (Auckland and New Plymouth). Nelson it’s pretty easy to figure out is named for Horatio Nelson, the hero of Trafalgar. I’m slipping though because it wasn’t until today that our guide Malcolm told me what should have been obvious; the first European to see this place was Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer, and this is New Zealand as in "Nieuw Zeeland" (new sea country) in Dutch. I should have figured that out a long time ago.
Dunedin, our port today, was settled by many Scots and the name comes from the Gaelic Dùn Èideann or Edinburgh. This is the capital of the Otago region on the South Island and the second largest city on the island. We docked in Port Chalmers which is about 15 km from Dunedin at the mouth of Otago Harbor. The ship couldn’t go up to the head of the harbor because it’s so shallow we would have run aground. I opted to take a tour into the town with a tour of the city’s main sights and a stop at Olveston House about which I’ll tell more later.
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| Lots more wood destined for China. If we don't watch out they'll own everything |
As with every place we’ve been this area was settled by Maori in the 13th or 14th century. Captain Cook anchored off what’s now the coast around Dunedin in February 1770 and he reported seeing penguins and seals. When word of that got out, sealers began to come. They were followed by whalers and by the 1830’s it had become an international whaling port. In the 1840’s a group of people who wanted to found a Free Church of Scotland community arrived and liked the area of Dunedin. So in 1848 this place became officially the special settlement and immigrants from Scotland began arriving. By the end of the 1850’s 12,000 Scots had arrived. They raised sheep and farmed and fished. In 1861 gold was discovered in nearby rivers and streams and a Gold Rush began. This was alluvial gold, meaning it wasn’t mined; instead it was found panning and digging around rocks in the rivers. After word of gold got out new settlers came pouring in and for a time Dunedin was New Zealand’s city with the largest growth of population.
Today the population is about 135,000. Dunedin is the home of the University of Otago, NZ’s oldest university founded in 1869. The university has one of only two medical schools in the country and the only dental school. It’s also the place where the first daily newspaper in NZ was published. Because of the wealth that flowed into Dunedin during the gold rush era, there are many lovely Victorian and Edwardian homes and some of the public buildings are very ornate.
As we drove into the city our first stop was the railway station.The building was opened in 1906 and was built by an architect named George Troup who earned the nickname “Gingerbread George.” As you’ll be able to see in the pictures it is very elaborate. The guide told us the exterior is Renaissance Revival and made of basalt with lighter stone facings. It’s got a clock tower and turrets and is very impressive. Inside it’s just as elaborate. In the main hallway the floor is made of 750,000 Minton tiles with designs of train engines and train cars. Around the balcony up above is a frieze of Royal Doulton porcelain. It’s an impressive building.
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| Avery fancy railway station |
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| This Royal Doulton was around the entire station hall |
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| Just some of the 750,000 mosaic tiles in the station floor |
After a look around we headed up to a viewpoint in Unity Park for a great view of the city and a look at the monument to Richard Byrd. Admiral Byrd, a Virginian I might add, left for his first Antarctic expedition in 1928 from Dunedin. The view was pretty spectacular.
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| Tribute to Admiral Byrd |
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| Looking down on Dunedin and the harbor |
Next we drove back into the city and saw other gingerbread buildings that were the court building and some other government offices. Malcolm then took us to see the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street. It has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Other streets claim to be, but they zigzag up while Baldwin street goes street up at about a 35° angle! We got off the bus and walked to the foot of it to take pictures, but no one tried to walk up. I wonder why.
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| Baldwin Street |
Next stop because we were a little early for the main attraction was the botanical garden. This city has the kind of flowers I remember seeing in places like Victoria, BC. While we didn’t have much time what I saw of the garden was beautiful. An interesting (at least to me) aside was that when Malcolm parked the bus by the entrance to the garden a young man with a little curly-headed boy in tow came by. They were Malcolm’s son James and grandson Jack who will be two on 02/02. Little Jack didn’t know what to make of us ladies coming over and cooing over him. When his grandpa asked him if he’d like to see the bus he began to cry. I think we overwhelmed him.
Last we went to the Olveston House, a historic home that was left to the city of Dunedin. The house was built between 1904 and 1907 for the Theomin family. David Theomin was a wealthy merchant and he and his wife Marie were avid collectors who traveled the world collecting all sorts of things, everything from porcelains to Japanese weapons. They were patrons of the arts and hosted many musical and social events there. The family had two children, a son Edward who never recovered from his service in WWI, and a daughter Dorothy who never married. Upon Dorothy’s death in 1966 she left the house, all its contents and a sum of $4000 annually for its maintenance and upkeep to the city of Dunedin. At first the city council wanted to sell the house and contents because they didn’t want to maintain the place. There was a public outcry and a foundation was formed to raise funds for maintenance. The place now serves as a museum and does lots of educational programs.
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| These two are an exterior and interior shot of Olveston |
To be perfectly honest, the interior of the house was not really to my taste. There was lots of dark wood paneling and to my mind too many things everywhere. I’m not into modern stuff but I like things a little lighter and airier. It was quite interesting though that the Theomins thought of every detail. For example, in the kitchens there were custom made pottery containers for every spice known to man each with the name baked in when they were made. Being a fan of Downtown Abbey I was amused to see the bell system similar to the one in Downton to call for the servants. In most of the rooms no pictures could be taken in the interest of preserving the fabrics and woodwork.
When we left the house it had just begun a light rain. I’ve been so lucky with the weather. We boarded our bus and on our way back to the ship we stopped at the University of Otago to take a picture of the belltower and the Maori pou, similar to a totem pole. The campus was a study in contrasts. The belltower was similar in style to the railway station and around it were some very modern glass and steel structures. Then we were on our way back to reboard the ship.
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| The pou on the campus |
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| The University belltower |
Of the cities I’ve seen in New Zealand this was actually my favorite. I could imagine living there. I think the climate is pretty temperate. They have good medical facilities. The cost of housing there is apparently much more reasonable than in Auckland and the flowers are beautiful. There's not much more one could ask for.
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