Day 8--Dunedin

This post is a day late because the internet on the ship is acting up, so I cannot get on. Hope for better reception tomorrow.

Heading into Dunedin

We arrived in Dunedin early this morning. We are over one of the side impellers for the ship, and when it goes on we know we are at a destination and it's time to get up. We were kindly invited by Jennifer Garrett and her niece Charlene to accompany them in their rental car as long as we didn't mind being dragged around to where they were going---little did they know.

City Centre-Dunedin

Jennifer is from Auckland and so has no trouble driving on the “wrong” side of the road. We first drove around city centre to get an idea of where things were, then parked and went to a small craft fair set up because there were two cruise ships in the harbour, us and the Dawn Princess. Great opportunity for selling things! I did buy a couple of things, but while there Tanis spotted some absolutely wonderful fabric in one of the items for sale, so I enquired as to where the lady manning the booth got it. She sent us to a lovely small store called Threads. They sold fabric, yarn, floss...all things thread. They had only a small amount, but sent us to a chain store exactly like Joanns called Spotlight. Little did Jennifer know she would be chasing all over Dunedin because two crazy quilting ladies were in search of a certain fabric. This was, I am sure, a totally new experience for her. By the way, we found the material.

Larnach Castle

After this we drove out of town along the Otago Peninsula to a castle called Larnach, about 30 minutes outside of town. This is a neo-Gothic “castle” built in the 1870's and restored in the 1960's. A beautiful place with as much original furniture and furnishings as possible. Cold though, and very misty. I can see why the early Scottish settlers felt right at home...it's as cold and misty as Scotland.

See the ship?
From the tippy-top of Larnach Castle

An original delivery truck
The workers wear purple overalls

After driving back to town, we ate at a chain called Nando's which serves grilled chicken, very tasty. Then we were off to the really tasty part, Cadbury's. There is a chocolate factory basically in the middle of town which makes the Cadbury's for New Zealand and Australia. The smell is enough to put on five pounds! Very interesting and tasty tour, with free samples given generously.

Very tired from all the walking, we drove back to the ship, and thus out to sea for a trip to Aksroa, the port for Christchurch, where we will not be going on the 60 minute drive to Christchurch, but staying in town.  Hope it's warmer than today.