This is a view of the interior of the
Otago Peninsula near Dunedin. Yes…just
in case you noticed all of those little white dots…those are sheep…lots of
sheep! The Otago Peninsula is one side
of an extinct volcano, encompassing Otago Harbor. One small part of the peninsula consists of part
of Dunedin’s suburbs and there are a few small scenic settlements around the
shore line. Only 10,000 people live here…and
most of them live close to the city, and much of the land is given up to
pastoral beauty such as seen above…
This is a satellite view of Dunedin, the
Otago Peninsula and Otago Harbor. The
city circles around the base of the harbor and the landside end of the peninsula. The highest point on the peninsula is about
1,339 feet. At one point along the
shoreline, sand dunes reach up to about 330 feet high. This striking peninsula is home to a fort,
old homes, Larnach Castle and the Royal Albatross Center. For more on what to see and do, go to http://www.dunedinnz.com/visit/see-and-do/tag/Otago-Peninsula.aspx.
An architect named George Troup, aka ‘Gingerbread
George’ designed the Dunedin Railway Station beginning in 1903, completing it
in 1906. The renaissance revival
architecture was employed using dark basalt, light colored but dense Oamaru
limestone, with pink granite columns and terra cotta shingles or tiles from
France.
The clock tower is roughly 121 feet tall.
The railway platform along the tracks
stretches for 1,640 feet…or more than a quarter of a mile! This is actually the 4th station
serving Dunedin.
Believe it or not, these are the ticket
windows in the ‘booking hall’ of the Depot.
Spectacular! For those of you that are collectors, the frieze of Royal
Doulton porcelain stretches entirely around the wall and balcony in this hall…
This is the tile medallion decorating the
center of the ticket or booking hall. Almost
750,000 Minton tiles were used to cover and decorate this space. Back in the days when Dunedin was ‘the
happening place’ on the South Island, over 100 trains per day came through this
depot.
Today, only the Taieri Gorge Railroad’s daily
passenger tourist trains arrive and depart from the Dunedin Depot. I wish that we’d had the time to take this
tour… For more on this spectacular train ride, including some great photos, go
to http://www.taieri.co.nz/index.htm.
This is another spectacular building in
Dunedin. Believe it or not, it’s the old
Dunedin Jail. This Victorian courtyard
prison was built in 1896 and it wasn’t decommissioned until June of 2009, after
115 years of operation. Fund drives are
under way to raise $2.6 million (NZ) to allow the Dunedin Charitable Trust to
remodel and repurpose the interior of the structure. Currently, guided tours are being given by
prison trustees who’ve lived there as well as guard guides. Cost is only $10.00!
This is a postcard view of our favorite
city in all of the South Island. This is
Oamaru. Perhaps it was the stunning architecture,
the wide streets, the covered sidewalks, the laid back atmosphere, the nice
people…or all of those things that caught our fancy.
In this postcard, you can see what the
downtown shopping district looked like back in 2000. (Remember…there weren’t
any US style malls) Also visible is the old post office dating from 1883 with
its 92 foot high clock tower, (added in 1903), St. Luke’s Anglican Church
(1866) and, off in the center right, Columbia Presbyterian Church (1883).
As you probably noticed from the postcard
photo, many if not most of the buildings were built in the style shown above…and
all of them were built from local Oamaru Limestone, a very dense and strong
form of that type of stone.
The building shown above is the Criterion
Hotel and Bar. It was built in 1877,
later was a temperance hotel, closed, opened as a boarding house, then it was
used as a warehouse with a confectionary and soft drinks shop… In 2012, it was purchased
and renovated, reopening as a hotel and bar.
For information, just go to http://www.criterionhotel.co.nz/.
Oamaru is a visual delight…
Laurie of course took this and almost all
of the other photos from this trip. I do
believe that I know that tourist who’s walking down the covered sidewalk in
downtown Oamaru! This town especially…and
to be honest…most of the South Island of New Zealand felt like we’d stepped
back to a gentler, kinder place in time.
For more about Oamaru, its sights and
attractions…plus photos, you can go to: http://www.markstravelnotes.com/oceania/new_zealand/otago/oamaru/.
I actually took this photo!! This is Laurie at the Christchurch airport
with our loaded luggage cart after unpacking our rental car. We put some miles on that car! I know one thing for sure… In today’s world,
taking that much luggage on a trip would cost hundreds of extra dollars!
And…finally…here’s our plane coming in to
pick us up. From here we flew to
Auckland where we changed planes and flew directly to Los Angeles and then to
Chicago. We loved Air New Zealand! The people were very nice and they really acted
like they cared about their passengers.
Of course, thanks to frequent flyer miles, it didn’t hurt that we were
first class passengers to Auckland and we flew business class back to Los
Angeles…
For information regarding flights and
fares on Air New Zealand, you can link up at http://www.airnewzealand.com/.
Thanks for tagging along on this 12
chapter photo travelogue! We had a great
time on this trip and I hope that you found it interesting and
informative. I think that the photos
spoke for themselves… Visit New Zealand!!
Just click on any of the photos to
enlarge them…
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
I've sure enjoyed your trip and would like to have gone, but I believe we'd just commited ourselves to see the USA via the RV.
ReplyDeleteHi dave, How do you do? I really like your blog, although this is the first time that I get here. If possible I would like to chat with you for a little bit. In the mean time, I invite you to visit www.tanasi.us
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and a great trip, I'm sure! First class is the way to go! :-)
ReplyDelete