Dunedin
- Apr 21
- 3 min read
April 14 - 21, 2026 - We are in Dunedin. Dunedin is New Zealand's seventh largest city with a population of around 133,000. It's been populated by the Maori from the 13th century and by Scottish settlers originally in the 1830s. It has some of the best preserved Eduardian and Victorian architecture in the Southern Hemisphere.
There were some lovely sunrise views - do you see the bunny having breakfast?
April 14 - We caught the 8am boat back to Bluff where we stopped for coffee and one of the best cinnamon rolls I've had in a long time
before continuing the Southern Trail up to Dunedin where it ended. Along the way we made several stops to see waterfalls. This waterfall is considered to be the most photographed in New Zealand - not sure why.
The Bell Birds were so loud we could hear them while we were driving (you'll have to turn your volume up).
We drove through a small town and saw what looked like a restaurant in an old school house.
The food was really good - this is chicken and vegetable soup. Chris had a salad.
After lunch we went to see Niagara Falls.
Later on we stopped for a short walk to see the view
before ending at some petrified wood along the seashore. There were supposed to be penguins too, but I think it was too early in the day and they were still at sea.
We are renting an AirBnB near the city. It is quite small, but will do the job. At least there's not much to clean and it has a washer/dryer.
We were on the peninsula and there was a very nice view nearby.
We only were out and about for two days out of 7 due to weather and illness. I managed to catch some sort of cold/sinus infection. If I had to be sick, this was the best place because I'll be back in December for my Antarctic cruise. I think the only thing we missed was walking up "the world's steepest street". I'll be surprised if this is steeper than those in San Francisco, but I guess it's something to look forward to.
April 18 - Saturday. We went to the farmers market (sorry, no photos) and found some really good (savory) pies, as well as stocking up on vegetables and bread for the week. Food is so expensive here we only go out about once/week and the rest of the time eat at "home".
Later in the day we went for a walk and it threatened rain, so we adjusted our route to get back a bit earlier. It ended up being about 5 miles and about 1000 feet of elevation gain.
The route started down towards the beach. It appears it's mating season for the sea lions....
We followed a river and then worked ourselves around and back up towards the car via some lime kilns
On the last section, almost at the car, Chris' pole fell out of his backpack. Neither of us noticed until we drove by it/over it on the road in the car. Chris now only has 1 walking pole.... (no photos).
From here we circled back towards Dunedin and stopped at another landmark of the area: Larnach Castle. This is a "castle" built by a banker in the 1800s. The original owner ended up killing himself at a parliament meeting. It was sold by the children, twice abandon, and the current owners have slowly been rebuilding/refurbishing both the building and the gardens.
April 21 - I started to feel vaguely human again and ready to try to get to Oamaru for our next adventure. We will be there for 4 days and I will post again then.
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