As a student in the late 80s/ early 90s B spent six years in Dunedin—a name derived from Dùn Èideann, the Gaelic name for Edinburgh. The area now occupied by South Island’s second-largest city was formerly—and is again more recently—known as Ōtepoti in Māori. This would be an opportunity to revisit half-forgotten places, but also to explore those places in and around the city that are harder to get to when you don’t have transport but do have coursework deadlines.
Coordinates
North Dunedin
Signal Hill provides an accessible lookout across much of Ōtepoti | Dunedin—depending on the weather (the city is also known as the “Antarctic Riviera”). You can see into the harbour and over the suburbs into the South Pacific (first photo). To the east is Macandrew Bay on the Otago Peninsula (second photo) & to the west is the city centre (third photo). A chunk of rock from the hill upon which Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle sits is displayed up here. Nearby is Baldwin Street, the world’s steepest with a 19° maximum gradient (final photo).
The Dunedin Botanic Garden was established in 1863 and for B became a personal favourite haunt in the late 1980s during his early university years. He would sit on the benches of the Upper Garden, writing poetry and watching the world go by (first photo). Meanwhile, back in the present, we enjoyed the spring flower display, which included magnolia (second photo), rhododendron (third photo) and cherry blossom (final photo).
The University of Otago has a fine Gothic-style registry/ clocktower built ca. 1879 and situated beside the Leith (first photo). B joined the adjacent Selwyn College—quite an eye-opener for a country lad (second photo), but lived across the road in what was then a run-down student flat, now beautifully restored (third photo). As an alumnus, we are grateful to have been allowed entry into both Selwyn College and the (non-public) medical school’s anatomy museum—B’s only A+ subject (final photo)!
Tūhura Otago Museum has fabulous Māori and Pasifika collections. Other highlights were the 70 million year-old, 8 metre plesiosaur, NZ’s largest fossil (first photo); ancient trees from Antarctica, which constitute important evidence for the existence of the Gondwana super-continent (second photo); the largest collection of articulated (extinct) moa skeletons anywhere (third photo); and the most complete (extinct) Haast eagle skeleton (final photo). We also saw the only Central Otago crocodile fossil; snakes have also been found in NZ’s fossil record. Eucalypts and coconut palms grew here in the distant past, too.
City centre
The centre of Ōtepoti | Dunedin is the Octagon, a geometric plaza set out in 1846 and—as befits this “Edinburgh of the South”—hosts a statue of revered Scottish poet Robert Burns (first photo). George Street is the main retail quarter—currently being upgraded. We can recommend you try the intriguing ice cream flavours at Patti’s; we had “birthday cake” with “blackcurrant, brownie and liquorice” (second photo), and “pear and blue cheese” with “coconut, mango and chilli”. We visited Otago Farmer’s Market, open on Saturday mornings (third photo). We gained insight into shipboard accomodation utilised by migrants (and other hardships they faced) in Toitū Otago Settlers Museum (final photo).
The Dunedin Railway Station is iconic for its “gingerbread house” Flemish Renaissance style: white Ōamaru limestone paired with black basalt blocks (first and second photos). The booking hall floor mosaic boasts around 750,000 Royal Doulton porcelain tiles (third photo). They skimped a bit on the platform side; sadly the Inlander train (final photo) no longer enters the Taieri Gorge due to uneconomic track maintenance costs.
South of the Octagon, between Queens Gardens and Police Street, is the historic Warehouse Precinct. Once the city’s commercial and industrial hub, the area is being slowly revitalised. It needs it: we found it looking run down—if not derelict. That said, there were examples of heritage architecture to admire (first three photos) and a good meal was to be had at the popular Vogel Street Kitchen (final photo).
Also of visual interest and seemingly concentrated around the historic Warehouse Precinct are murals, some highly visible—while others are found lurking in hidden corners. There’s even an online trail map to help pedestrians find and learn about commissioned street art, although merely wandering will yield discoveries. Here are some of the examples we came across on the sides of buildings.
Lan Yuan Chinese Garden provides counterbalance to the relative prominence of Scottish and Māori heritage in Dunedin. This authentic scholar’s garden honours the Cantonese men who came, initially from Victoria beginning in 1866, to resolve labour shortages in the Otago goldfields.
“Most cherished in this mundane world is a place without traffic, truly in the midst of a city there can be mountain and forest.”
Wen Zhengming (1470–1559)
South Dunedin
Tunnel Beach features sandstone cliffs, pillars and a large archway sculpted by wave action. Care is needed on the steep, loose gravel path down to the arch—even in dry weather (first photo). Pause to watch the waves break against the sheer cliffs (second photo). A short tunnel (third photo) was hand-cut in the 1870s to allow a family private access to a rocky beach (final photo).
St Clair and St Kilda are popular city beaches—separated in theory by Middle Beach—but nobody seems entirely clear on where one beach begins and the next ends! St Clair has had an esplanade since the 1870s; salt water baths opened in 1884 but weren’t heated until the 1960s (second photo). Viewed from the lookout at Lawyers Head, St Kilda is the less urbanised end (third photo). The beach here looks almost tropical (final photo), but dipping your toe in would soon dispel that illusion!
We’ve been amused by the creativity in mailboxes seen around NZ (the last two pictures are from Dunedin). Indeed, some residents appear to see oddity as a form of neighbourhood competition. As these pictures show, sometimes a plain box on a post is simply inadequate. Who can boast the whackiest design? Additional points given for functionality and mail-holding capacity!
Brighton is a short distance south of Dunedin, making it popular with day trippers (first photo). An example of what we believe is exposed Otago schist, incorporating quartz ridges and sparkling mica crystals, seen at Ōtokia Creek mouth (second photo). It’s quite brittle—not unlike the UK’s Brighton Rock candy; some specimens look rather like petrified wood. It’s a quiet place now, awaiting the return of visitors (third photo) and surfers (final photo).
Sad to hear that the Inlander train no longer enters Taieri Gorge, we had high hopes for the Outram Glen to Lee Stream Walk. After 20 minutes we arrived at a small river beach (first photo); beyond this the track was less well-formed and devoid of river views, until reaching another beach one hour later (second photo). The Lee Stream (third photo) meets the Taieri River here. Just below the confluence is a set of rapids—but not with the flow nor confines of the gorge we’d hoped to glimpse (final photo). It was 4.5km/ 1h 20min each way.
Next up, Otago Peninsula. It’s where the lions are…
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