Annette's Adventures: Dunedin

Friday, 21 October 2016

Day 33 (Dunedin/Oamaru/Twizel) - Friday 21st October 2016

Reading buddy at Glenfalloch gardens

Our first stop of the day was to Larnach Castle, which is situated on the Otago Peninsula part of Dunedin. It's New Zealand's only castle and is quite exquisite. The views from the tower are breathtaking.

We followed this up with a visit to Glenfalloch Restaurant (and gardens) for morning tea, with a quick photo stop at Baldwin Street, the world's steepest street, afterwards.

We only had an hour to spend at Oamaru, which wasn't enough time to do the town justice. I ate my lunch as I walked back from Oamaru Public Library over to Steampunk HQ, which is a steampunk museum and is absolutely fantastic! I loved experiencing The Portal.

Our final stop of the day was at Benmore dam and power station, and the views here were quite breathtaking, too. In the evening, I took a walk around Twizel (pronounced Twy-zel) and took some shots at twilight/dusk.

View from tower at Larnach Castle

Larnach Castle

View from tower at Larnach Castle

Glenfalloch gardens

The sign obviously makes it official

Baldwin Street

Oamaru Public Library

Quest tally: three out of ten libraries

Steampunk HQ

The Portal

Steampunk HQ

Typical Oamaru residents

Benmore dam and power station

Night falls over Twizel

Thursday, 20 October 2016

Day 32 (Gore/Dunedin) - Thursday 20th October 2016

Gore

If you love country music then you'll want to make a stop at Gore, which is New Zealand's capital of country music. They have a 'Hands of Fame' wall, which features the hand prints of country music stars who've played there over the years (I'd only heard of Kenny Rogers).

After our brief stop there, we continued on our way to Dunedin, the 'Edinburgh of the South'. There was time for a visit to the library (naturally!) when we arrived at the city, as well as time to hit the shops and local landmarks. I liked the street art I came across as I pounded the pavements. Apparently, you can pick up a map at the I-Site Visitor Centre and follow the trail of street art around the city.

This evening, we were treated to a special Haggis Ceremony at our hotel, and several people from our tour group volunteered (*cough* were picked on *cough*) to take part. They even attempted the Highland Fling (not bad going for the Aussie bloke who'd done the tour of Speight's Brewery earlier in the afternoon and had imbibed the wares. His wife was in hysterics as he entered into the spirit - pun intended - of the evening).