Arriving in Dunedin we were struck by it's resemblance to Britain and not just because of the Scottish name. It's the architecture as well; with Victorian buildings such as the train station teamed with steep streets reminiscent of Edinburgh. Even the domestic residences are made from brick and are often 2 storey which is a rare sight indeed in an earthquake vulnerable New Zealand. It's also the close proximity of the houses to one another, sometimes terraces, in a country where space is not of a premium. The centre is lovely and buzzes with a vibrancy you associate with British cities; you could easily be in Cheltenham, Edinburgh or Nottingham. That and with the sun finally out we felt right at home in Dunedin and, if truth be told, a little homesick for Britain.
As the base for Otago University, Dunedin is chock-a-block with students and this probably contributes to the Scottish city feel too. A walk to the Dunedin botanical gardens saw us sharing our picnic lunch with half the student population - we knew they were students because who else would be lolling around on a Friday lunchtime? Oh yes, us. Ahem.
Talking of steep streets we walked up Baldwin Street in Dunedin, the steepest in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records, at a gradient of 1:3. The postman must be the fittest chap in New Zealand!
Next stop, the Otago Peninsula to the east of Dunedin. According to David Bellamy, it is the finest example of eco-tourism in the world. Yes, well David Bellamy is rich and tourism is the operative word on the peninsula.
There are apparently cheaper (i.e. free) and less commercialised places to see penguins, so we passed on the eco bit and visited Lanarch Castle, the only castle in New Zealand, instead. Set high in the Peninsula hills and with the fog as thick as pea soup, the castle soared eerily above the beautiful grounds. The ballroom-come-restaurant with roaring log fires was a cosy retreat though and we truly expected a piper with bright red hair to dance round the corner in a whirl of tartan and bagpipes. Somehow the lovely Dunedin seems to encourage stereo-types.
We finish this update with a saying we saw outside the 'Wee Robbie Bottle Shop', an off-license in Dunedin with a sense of humour - "I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy". Agreed!
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