Day 9 (Tuesday 24 December 2024) Dunedin

 This morning we arrived in Port Charmers (Dunedin) which we last visited back on new years’s day 2024. 

 Today is cool, damp and overcast compared to a warm sunny day back on 1st of January. Also another cruise ship has docked as well. town.

 We haven’t booked any excursions except a bus ticket to get us to Dunedin and return. A generally lazy exploring day was planned and achieved. It has been awhile since we last explored Dunedin so it was like visiting the town anew again.

Initially the day was cool, overcast and foggy with a promise of rain, but by mid day the sun had burnt through.

The bus took us on long road that borders the large bay for about 20 minutes into town. 

The bus dropped us off near the museum not far from the fantastic railway station which we saw on our last trip to Dunedin.

At the museum we got directions, and decided to visit the Chinese gardens. A lady that appeared to be of Chinese heritage indicated to us that the gardens were fairly authentic. For NZ$22 revisited the gardens and found them to be very serene and different to Japanese Gardens that we had visited in the past.

We would certainly recommend visiting the gardens for something different. We then climbed the hill travelling past several parks, magnificent buildings until we found the Spieght’s brewery.

We didn’t take a tour, but we did taste six of the beers that they had on offer. Certainly worth a visit if you enjoy beer. We then proceeded to climb a very steep road up a hillside to the towns, magnificent catholic Cathedral.

We then proceeded down Stuart Street to the octagon in the centre of town. Again we enjoyed the late Victorian architecture found in Dunedin. 

Dunedin was founded mainly by Scottish immigrants during the 1860s to the early 1900s, who developed the town and surroundings. As a result, we found a Scottish shop, on Stuart Street so we dropped in for a wee shop and gather. The shop had all manner of cool stuff ranging from kilts, tartans, and other Scottish paraphernalia. We left more than a wee bag of goodies. 

Eventually, we found food in a Burger ( velvet burger) Speciality restaurant (not MacDonald’s as that isn’t food.).

Octagon

We continue down Stuart Street to the railway station turned to head to our bus line. The line to the bus was long but did move fairly quickly. Another cruise company (celebrity) operating much smaller ship (2/3 the size of the Ovation) appeared to have vastly more buses available. While waiting in line we got to talk to some of the crew who had short leave today.

We enjoyed Dunedin, as it was generally a no frills day but was enjoyable.

 Departure from Port was interesting as our ship passed the celebrity edge in the harbour and passengers from both ships called out Christmas greetings. as the ship passed out to sea people park their cars along the road and waved as we passed by.

The scenery in the channel was typical of New Zealand, simply beautiful.

We finished our day with a speciality meal at the Japanese restaurant followed by a Christmas show in the theatre. We then returned to our favourite ship bar called Vintage.