Cruise Day 12 - Scottish Dunedin
What a great day. Lots of pictures. Bloody hard finding things to blog about when we are sea for 3 days ! Arrived at Port Chalmers, Dunedin, at 0700 hrs. We were escorted intothe harbour by a tug. It didn't sem to be doing any tugging.
Port Chalmers is just little. We were docked right next to a container ship. Interesting. There is a full on logging operation going on. All plantation pine. We could smell the timber from the ship.
Arriving Port Chalmers
Welcome to country NZ style
Beautiful coast
The concrete structures must be military - when the kiwis had and army, once.
I need one of those grabbers on the front of the loader. so much easier to pick up logs
Cathedral near the wharf. Just need to locate the brothe - must be close by
Small container ship
Mr Maersk must be very very rich. Those containers are just like giant milkcrates
Typical wharfies - lots of people doing sweet FA
Our tug escort
Showing our position in a very crude manner
Nice position looking over the logs and containers
The harbour
This will be the routine for the rest of the cruise. We pull into a port everyday. Cruise overnight and arrive to disembark at 0830 hrs. Boat leaves at 1800 hrs, so don't be late or we will have catch it at the next port at our own expense. Fair enough. Check out the youtibe videos of pier runners and you will understand. Its brutal. That's the only reason for booking the tours and excursions with the ship as they WILL wait for you if the official tour operator is late getting back. They will not do that for private tours although private tours are usually better value.
Natures Wonders
Light breakfast and we were on board the coach for the Natures Wonders tour. It was about an hour drive out of the city to a farm which has converted its beach front to a wilderness conservation area. All privately funded and very well done. First they use these ATVs to take you down some hardcore 4 WD tracks - full of ruts and dips. Luckily it was dry as the descents were really steep. I noticed that each ATV has a winch installed. That is a clue.
BTW, the coach started alarming and we limped to the destination. The driver then called for back up which is a mechanic team and a replacement coach. I thought that the coach would conk out as the road to the destination was quite windy and steep.
After a couple of kodak moments of breath-taking scenery, we arrived at the fur seal colony. As usual, fur seals were hunted to near extinction but with protection, the population is making a comeback. That is the standard narrative but I reckon they stopped hunting the poor bastards because we had synthetics which are way cheaper. That devalued the fur seal except for the die hard fashionistas. It is always the women....
The Kodak Moments - beautiful scenery
The Natures Wonders
The lads - The owner, Perry is on the left with Cam the Maori cuzzy bro in the middle
Perry the Owner - 7th generation kiwi
Cam the Maori cuzzy bro. Funny guy - very passionate about the conservation project
The ATV - great fun. Note the winch which has seen some use
ATV instruments - uncomplicated but effective
The bull kelp made very interesting artistic patterns with the waves
The waves started to build up and started crashing over the rocks and kelp. Looks bloody cold.
I think this is a native flower. I took the photo because its pretty
The minivan for those with pacemakers and didn't want to do the ATVs (and didn't want to get dusty)
The Seals
Seal family frolicking in the water
This seal pup deserve a special mention. It was hiding under the boardwalk and was very curious about me taking a photo. Cute little bugger
Oyster catcher
I thought these 2 rocks look like 2 seals having a snog
Looks like adolescent pup yelling at mum
Oi, you 2, get the hell out of here!
See the little ears
Then we walked down this wooden ramp. I thought that we were going to the beach to check out the penguins. Wrong. The little blue penguins nest in burrows. Along the wooden ramp, retained by a wooden wall, the guides pulled open little flaps and the penguin chicks were just there. That was really cool, totally unexpected. It was a real experience.
The Blue Penguins
Gotta say, they are really cute
The Giant Sea Gulls
Don't what type of gulls but they are massive
Funny tree on the road back to the city
Light house on the way back. Would have liked to stop but the road was very windy and there was no place to pull over. I didn't bother asking.
After that it was back to the coach. We got the coach to drop us off in central Dunedin. Checked out St Paul's - whihc was where we were dropped off. Then it was a short walk to the famous Dunedin Train station - built in this convict victorian style. The nearby law courts were also built in the same style.
Found a thai place for lunch and to get our chilli fix. Delicious.
Dunedin is quite a small city next to a very picturesque harbour. not a lot of money in town. Saw quite a few very old cars and the shops are a little run down. Not many people around. If it wasn't for the cruise passengers, it would have seem deserted. Either everyone is working from home or nobody is working or there just isn't that many people!
On a sad note, they have torn down the Cadbury factory and a new hospital is going to be built on the site. That is a crime against humanity! The chocolate factory was an iconic institution and should have been heritage or UNESCO listed. For a hospital to occupy prime CBD land is just as criminal. There will be parking problems, homeless problems etc. They should build the hospital out of town. Nearby but out of town.
Maori version of a China Gate
St Pauls
Nice stain glass windows - St Pauls
Blurry photo of the pipe organ in St Pauls
Clock tower next to St Pauls
Standout ugly building
The historic Railway Station
Nice carving of the NZ Rail logo
Random tourist in the Railway station
Platform of the railway station - not too busy
?Tourist train - needs a new paint job
Long covered walkway - much needed with the copious amount of rain
Legal street - Law practices galore, the pub catering for the lawyers and the law courts at the end of the street
The newspaper house
Nice old pub - the Bacchus
I think that is the Catholics up the hill
I think this is a statue of Robbie Burns - Scottish Poet. Man, they really plug their Scottish roots here
Great name for a pharmacy - very clever indeed
Great advertising - even better is it said free
What's left of the Cadbury Factory
After a couple of hours, it was back on the shuttle bus to the ship. Afternoon tea was mandatory and then a snooze.
Usually, we would go to the show after the ho hum fine dining dinner but we decided to give it a miss. It was ballroom dancing demo but I too young for it. Seems elegant but a bit of a wank at the same time. Nah, not for me. Blog and bed is the plan.
Tomorrow we dock at Lyttelton, Christchurch. We have not booked any excursion but will explore the city on our own.
This featured blog entry was written by wilson.lim61 from the blog The G and the land of the shaking cloud.
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