Dunedin was next on our route, partly because it’s the second-largest city on the South Island, and partly because the Aotearoa New Zealand Juggling & Circus Festival was to take place near there on the upcoming weekend.
After an uneventful bus ride, we arrived in the centre of town a bit before 2 pm. We couldn’t get into our apartment until 3 pm, so we headed to a nearby restaurant for some lunch. However, unbeknownst to us, this was Otago Anniversary Day, a holiday commemorating the arrival of the first European settlers in Otago, of which Dunedin is the capital. So, the restaurant was closed. Fortunately, there was a nearby Asian noodle place open despite the holiday.
After getting into our apartment we did some groceries and a load of laundry, after which it was time to head out in search of dinner.
Our friend Graham, with whom we’d stayed in Wellington, had told us that Albar was his favourite pub in the city. It was only a hundred metres from our apartment, which seemed too big a coincidence to pass up, so we headed there for dinner. Albar is a traditional Scottish-style pub, with a wide range of beer on tap (including four hand-pulled casks), that also serves tapas. So, Scottish-Spanish fusion? The pub was very quiet, due to the holiday, so we got to have a nice chat with Josh, the bartender, who kindly took this picture for us. Share and enjoy!.
The next morning dawned with the promise of fine weather, and Karen suggested we hike up to the Signal Hill Lookout for a view of the city. Greg pointed out that this would be a fifteen kilometre round trip, with a lot of climbing, but Karen was up for the challenge so off we went.
After walking through the centre of Dunedin and the campus of University of Otago our route took us through the Dunedin Botanic Garden (established 1863). The trails on the ground bore little resemblance to what both Google Maps and Apple Maps were showing, leading to a bit of puzzled navigation.
We made it out the other side of the Garden and continued our climb through a pleasant suburban area on the hillside.
As promised, the view from the lookout was well worth the walk. Our starting point at Dunedin’s Octagon is towards the right edge of this picture.
Here’s approximately the same view, with a couple of people cluttering it up.
The lookout is in the middle of Signal Hill Reserve, which includes a network of mountain-bike trails on the steep side of the hill. We decided to take the designated walking path through the bike trail network, so we could walk back along the Otago Harbour shoreline towards town.
Karen found this rather striking fist-sized mushroom at the side of path.
At the bottom of the bike paths we were back into the Ravensbourne suburb, where Karen found some interesting plants to photograph.
This is the view from the shoreline, looking back up the slope we’d just descended. Signal Hill Lookout is inside the pink circle.
The walk along the bay was very pretty, with lots of seabirds.
Looking along the harbour towards the city centre.
Our route took us very near Emerson’s Brewery, which Graham had also recommended for its beer (some of which we’d enjoyed at Albar, the night before), as well as its food.
The next morning Graham had invited us to join him, Em, their kids, and Em’s father Jared at the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum. We had a quick stroll through the museum, ultimately finding them in the kids’ area. After a bit of a chat we had a slower wander through parts of the museum that looked interesting.
They have a nice display of old computing equipment. The Digital Equipment Corporation VT100 terminal was the “modern, high end” terminal on RMC’s mainframe network when Greg arrived there in 1983. The Commodore 64 above it was the computer Greg’s parents bought for his brothers to use, about a year after Greg left for University. It’s mildly disconcerting to see important parts of your life sitting in a museum, but that’s the way of things, especially with computers.
The museum also has a nice display on the history of bicycles, including some boneshaker penny-farthings, but no unicycles (alas).
One section of the museum had a timeline of the history of Dunedin, with a rather eclectic mix of photographs and other exhibits. Remember ladies, buy “St. George” or “Sovereign” jams, or else your husband will have an affair with someone who does.
From the museum we headed out for lunch at a nearby cafe, a process that involved getting very wet, since the skies had utterly opened up. The rain had stopped by the time we were done, letting us get some pictures of these charming Art Deco buildings…
… and the very Scottish-looking Gothic Revival Cargill Monument, dedicated to Dunedin’s founder, Captain William Gargill.
It was raining heavily on and off most of the following day, so we stayed in the apartment, did another load of laundry, and got some work (Greg) and sewing (Karen) done. In the early evening there was a break in the rain, so we headed out for dinner and found this architecturally-eclectic streetscape.
The next morning it was out of the apartment and off to the Aotearoa New Zealand Juggling & Circus Festival!
