To Dunedin

Yesterday we drove with Wyn and Dorothy from Wanaka to Dunedin following the Clutha River. We stopped near Cromwell in orchard country to collect 20kg of apricots which Dorothy will bottle. This is half the usual amount, but she is going away so won’t have time to process 40kg!! The packing shed was busy, processing fruit from local orchard, peaches, and apricots mainly, but I bought some beautiful cherries too.

We stopped at Clyde for coffee, having seen the dam which holds back the Lake Dunstan reservoir. This was gold mining country and the town even had an assay office as part of the general store. We had coffee at the old bank.....!

Onwards and downwards, through Alexandra stopping off at Gabriel’s Gully where we think the first gold in NZ was found. A picturesque spot for our picnic lunch.

Today has been a Dunedin day. Michael and I walked down to the city centre, which took about 40 minutes.  The land around Dunedin harbour rises very steeply, so all the residential areas are very hilly! We went to Toitu, The Otago Settlers Museum, which traces the history of the city from its beginnings.  We visited about 10 years ago, but it has been extended and modernised since then and is now an excellent museum. We found Mrs Andrew Chirnside’s portrait (Michael’s mother was a Chirnside) and another Chirnside on the WW2 war memorial. We then went next door to the Chinese Garden, a baeautiful tranquil place beside the railway line. The Chinese have a long history here too, coming from the Californian minefields. Dunedin is known as the Edinburgh of the South being settled by Scots. The Chirnsides came on the ship, The Three Bells, in 1858. Dunedin now is a thriving city of 120,000 population

Later we visited the Botanic Gardens, and then had a quick cuppa out at St Clair beach. The gardens had some spectacular eucalyptus trees, along with a Mediterranean garden, Rock Garden etc etc. 

Tomorrow we off on a train trip up the Taieri Gorge, then on Friday we will fly to Christchurch  to pick up a motorhome and take off for three weeks. We will have Wi-fi but it may be intermittent.

This blog had lots of photos, but the speed here appears to be to low to upload them