Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 19

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melsea
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Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 19

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Post by melsea »

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 19

Day 62. Dunedin, New Zealand. 9am - 6pm

11th March. Evening Casual.

We came here back in 2011 and thought it was a lovely place. And like last time one of the tours had the transport come to the ship for the tour. It was the train for the Taieri Gorge Railway. I think about 300 passengers booked this tour. It's one of those tours that you have to book with the ship as they buy up all the tickets and so if you wanted to book it yourself it will show as being fully booked. I understand that the ship will do a heavy mark up on the price as the local price is at a fraction of the price. As usual I didn't actually look at this tour properly. But for a train enthusiast is must rank as one of those Great Railway Journeys thats a must do. One off we took the shuttle bus to the centre of town. I left Bill at a coffee shop and I went walkabout. I made my way down towards the railway station as its an impressive building and the interior is equally as impressive.
The booking hall features a mosaic floor of almost 750,000 Minton tiles. The main platform is the country's longest, it's about 500 metres. There are two extra features to this station one is that upstairs it houses the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame and the other is Otago Art Society. I haven't been into the sports museum but I did go into the Otago Art Society where they often have an artist there doing a piece and you can watch them. There wasn't one this time around but they did have an exhibition that hadn't opened yet back they allowed us to view the works which were varied in their styles, medium and sizes. There is a small gift shop where you can buy pieces of art and well as locally made jewellery as well as cards and postcards. I bought a couple of cards that were reproductions of local artist paintings. One showed the view of Dunedin looking across the whole area with local interest buildings. One looked very striking and asked where it was and I was told up the hill ahead of us. So when I finished looking around the station I made my way in search of this building. I made my way up some pretty steep streets which as you got higher you were rewarded with quite a view. The building turned out to be a boys school that wouldn't look out of place in a Charles Dickens book, very imposing it was. I took a few photos and then made my way down passing streets that looked like you would find them in any street in the UK. I got back to the square where we were dropped off and I saw Bill who was soon to go back to the ship. I stayed ashore and went down a main street where there were shops of which I looked into a few. Didn't buy anything and went back to the square again when I notice there was an Art Gallery of which I went into and was very good. Time was moving on and I decided to head back to the ship. The weather closed in a bit when we were sailing away and it was rather cold as well but I stayed for the view out as it is rather a good one and it's not an easy sailing out of the region either. There are sandbanks and ripples of the sea that look like mini Tsunamis. Eventually you end up sailing fairly close to the coast and then there is a sharp turn to head out to see, on your right you see the lighthouse that has been used for centuries to guide seaman here to safety.

Day 63. Akaroa, New Zealand South Island. 9am - last tender 6pm

12 March Evening Casual.
Sunny and warm.

Tender operations today.

We couldn't go the Glass House for our breakfast because it was closed due to the Norvo Virus. So we had to slum it up in the buffet where the waiters had to serve the food to you. I had got my bags ready before I went to breakfast so that when I was ready to go I could straight away. I went to Masquerades and got my single ticket which was number 666. My number came up at just before 11am and I made my way down to deck 4 where the tender station is for us to get onto a tender. At the bottom of the stairs of deck four the New Zealand Quarantine officials were there to check your bags. This slowed things a little bit but not too much. The journey to shore was much quicker than they were saying, we got there some 20 minutes later. When I got onto firm ground I found a lady who was giving out maps, I asked her a few questions of where I could go and then I started my day. I head towards a place called the Garden Tane garden walk. This was a little up hill and the garden was a little forest really. It was a pleasant walk/trek and I came across a cemetery which was interesting. There was a sign telling you to be careful while looking around the cemetery as some of the headstones were damaged by the September earthquake they had there. I finally came out of this mini forest by coming out onto the road close by a lighthouse. I went inside the lighthouse for 2.50$NZ. I then walked on to where you could get a little higher and look out to where our ship was anchored. Forgot to say that there was another ship in town the Sea Princess.
Making my way back I remembered the man at the light house saying there was a track you can take to that goes above the town with good views. At first I didn't see it but when I went back I saw it. If you didn't know about it you would definitely miss it as I did at first. I ended up going pass the very place I started from this morning, the cemetery place that is part of the Garden Tane. I made it back to town and I found the library which had a cafe next to it and so I stopped for a hot drink and use the libraries wifi connection. I ended up having 2 drinks.
Having had my drinks I moved on and walk along the coast in the opposite direction I had been this morning. Akaroa is a historic French and British settlement nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano. On my stroll I came across a large flag pole that had a French flag. The area is very much a seaside town with lots of quaint cafes and shops. I bought a couple of things for friends birthdays for when I get home. The sun was shining and it was rather warm. I realised too late that one of the places I wanted to visit was The Giants House of Sculpture, mosaic garden and Gallery. I was so close to it as well but by then time was not on my side so I made the decision to head back to the tender point. There was a little queue for the tenders but it din't take long before we were heading back and I was back on board.

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GillD46
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 19

#2

Post by GillD46 »

I am very much looking forward to going to Dunedin, my uncle was a Baptist Minister there, although I never actually met him, and I want to visit his Church.
Gill

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