Midwinter Carnival

On our second evening in Dunedin we made a point of going to the Midwinter Carnival. This was a really great evening - lots of people had gone to a great effort making paper lanterns, dressing up in costume, and generally bringing a lovely fun atmosphere to the Octagon.

Skry and I went to an Irish bar called the Craic for an early dinner, and commandeered a window seat to watch out for the start of the parade. This was my view, which looked very cool in real life with the church all floodlit and just visible through the trees:



The parade got going with some dancers and a white witch / snow queen type person on stilts.



They were quickly followed by dozens and dozens people carrying all sorts of paper lanterns. It really did look lovely, especially as the authorities and local businesses had got together to switch out most of the electric lights in the area so we could appreciate the candles.





The parade was followed by entertainment from the bandstand across the way, although we couldn't see what was going on and were too lazy to walk over, and then fireworks. And amazingly the weather was just perfect, crisp and cold but not even a hint of rain despite the poor forecast beforehand.

The whole event gets a big thumbs-up from me. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, the kids were loving it, and it was just good clean fun for all the family. Up with this sort of thing.

To Dunedin

Skry and I headed to Dunedin for the weekend, about a five hour drive south of Christchurch. We didn't have any particular reason except that it is a long time since we had a break together, so why not!

Since there had been lots of snow and ice down south during the past week (and in fact the road we needed to take into Dunedin was closed for a day or two because it just wasn't passable), we expected it to be cold. That didn't stop me packing a picnic! Egg and onion rolls, peanuts, yoghurt, and a Thermos full of boiling water for our mugs of soup made for a very enjoyable break in a little spot called Glenavy.


I enjoyed the view from our picnic table.



When we got to Dunedin we headed straight for our apartment. Rather than stay in a hotel or a B&B, we booked a studio suite in the Chapel Apartments, which are build in an old church (or chapel, I suppose) about five minutes' walk from the Octagon and with private parking. They were pretty nice inside too! Pity I didn't think to take some photos before we had trashed the place :)



I'd definitely stay here again if we were back in Dunedin - the location is so convenient, and the place was very well equipped. There was even a laundry area with a washing machine and tumble dryer, and free wireless broadband. Fantastic.

Dunedin still

After a very wet night - and feeling ever more grateful that we weren't stuck outside in the tent - we woke up to something in Dunedin that we hadn't seen before: sunshine! Pausing only long enough to cook ourselves some tasty and filling omelette for breakfast, we packed up maps and cameras and headed out for the day. Dunedin in the sunshine is a lot more pleasant than Dunedin in the pouring rain, that's for sure. Although the hills were just as steep, at least we had a good view over the city from the tops of them! It wasn't long before we were walking from the central Octagon down an extremely long street heading out of the city to the Botanical Gardens. We were very lucky to have such nice weather for a walk through the gardens, and we spent quite a long time enjoying the different areas such as the herb garden and the plants from different parts of the world. It was a pleasant surprise to see a sign in the herb garden suggesting that we pull off leaves to smell and/or taste the different herbs - back in the UK you probably would have been chucked out of the park for such a wanton act of vandalism! We also enjoyed walking up the higher areas of the gardens with a view over the city. It was fun to watch the cars away over on the far hill, seemingly driving straight up into the air. The streets here really are VERY steep, and I don't understand how anyone copes in snowy or icy weather.

After the gardens, we spent a good hour in the Otago Museum which was on our way back into town. As well as standard museum stuff, it had a really interesting maritime area, with models of different ships and a history of what they had been involved in, such as the evacuation from Dunkirk, which Skry really enjoyed. My favourite part was the Animal Attic, which is full of bones and stuffed animals laid out in the same style that the Victorians would have used. In fact a few of the mammals were suffering from faded fur because the Victorians had no lighting in the museum apart from the skylights, and the animal exhibit was right at the top so all the sunlight fell straight on them. It was only in later years that they blocked out the skylights, floored the central area of the building, and added artificial lighting. Anyway, the stuffed animals were interesting, disturbing, cute, disfigured, scary, or in some cases most of the above. I liked the lion best - I was crouching on the floor imagining that it was attacking me, and how scary that would be. Don't ask me why, but it amused me! From there, we made a quick trip to see the train station, which has a very ornately designed and tiled building (apparently Royal Doulton made the floor tiles for them) and then on for dinner.

Our last evening in Dunedin was spent watching films on the laptop in our cabin. We watched the most recent Harry Potter film and then the start of Ratatouille, and we're saving the rest of that for tomorrow because it was getting late. I'm so glad that I took the laptop with me, but we have watched nearly everything I have already. Time to join a film library!

Dunedin

Dunedin is very very hilly, and currently very very wet. After a very tasty cheese and onion toastie and cappuccino breakfast in Oamaru, I was back behind the wheel and heading directly for Dunedin, so as to maximise our time here. We did take a tiny detour to see the Moeraki Boulders, which turned out to be very boring round stones lying on a beach, but other than that it was a straight road all the way. The further south we got, the greyer the sky became, and before we reached Dunedin we were driving through a rainstorm which just did not let up. I was extremely glad of the automatic gears on the car when we got to the city itself, because navigating steep hills and busy junctions while there is water flowing down the road and the wheels just want to spin and aquaplane is more than enough to contend with, without having to worry about changing gears and not rolling backwards as well.

We headed straight for the Top 10 campsite, and thankfully were able to book a cabin ($48 - $4.80 discount = $43.20 for the night). This is no weather for putting up tents! We are now installed in a spacious cabin with double bed, desk, kitchen equipment, and a power plug, which is fantastic because we are able to charge up all our electronics. I'm having trouble with my MP3 player -- it seems to have locked itself out of USB charge mode, and I only have a USB charger for it -- but everything else will be powered up and ready to go by the time we leave here. The plan is to stay in Dunedin for two nights, but if the weather perks up tomorrow we'll go back to the tent. Time will tell.

The rain is still pouring down, so neither of us really wants to go outside, but it's well past lunchtime and we will have to brave it sooner or later to get food. I know there are buses that go in to the city centre from here, so at some point we'll have to change into warmer clothing (we arrived here in shorts and t-shirts, as befitted the hot weather further north) and go and see what's to be seen. Hopefully my next update will be a bit more exciting!