South Island Ports --Port Chalmers (Dunedin)

January 29, 2013 in port Port Chalmers, New Zealand – Welcome to Edinburgh in the South Pacific

We arrived in Port Chalmers, the port for Dunedin, at 7:00am.  On the pier next to the ship was a passenger train of the Taieri Gorge Railway, taking a large tour group from the ship to Taieri Gorge and Pukerangi.

Port Chalmers, New Zealand

Taieri Gorge Railway Tourist Train – As if the tourist buses were not enough.

We did not take the train tour.  Having done it before in 2007, we went into the city of Dunedin, about a 15-minute, tour-bus ride from the ship.  Dunedin is called the "Edinbugh of New Zealand," and you see why as soon as you step off the bus at the Octogon, the eight-sided town square in the heart of Dunedin.  Its architecture and construction materials are very much like Edinburgh, without the kilts.  The city is full of well-preserved Victorian and Edwardian public buildings.

Welcome to Dunedin - Town Hall and Robert Burns Statue

I don't know how we got to Edinburgh, but there is Robbie on a pedestal.

Dunedin Street Scenes

Rush hour is so stressful here.  Penguins, what penguins?

St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral

Thus begins the stairway to heaven or the descent to hell.  

Depends if you are at the bottom or top.

Interior St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral

Great organ and stained glass.  Not so sure about the altar cross.

Dunedin Railway Station -- Example of Anglo Saracen Architecture, Circa 1906

Now, only the Taieri Gorge Tourist Train stops here, sadly.

Dunedin Railway Station Interior - Tiles, Mosaics, and Stained Glass

Regretfully, they are having problems with vagrants!  (Note: E, J and Jon Fleming!)  

Lower frame by Tracy Fleming.

ANZAC Memorial Garden, Dunedin

Somehow, a garden seems more appropriate to commemorate the fallen than an obelisk.

First Presbyterian Church, Dunedin

What do we have here?  Christians playing "mine is bigger than yours"?

Stained Glass Windows.  Interior, First Presbyterian Church, Dunedin

Presbyterian versus Anglican sounds like Scotland versus England.

Returning to the ship shortly after noon, we sailed for Hobart, Australia via Dusty and Milford Sounds on the West Coast of the South Island.