We got up at a normal time to be breakfasted and off ship and onto a tour bus for the day.
We'd docked at Port Chalmers midway along the long bay that has Dunedin at the apex. So first the bus had to drive along the water edge with houses dotted up the hillside all the way. Somewhat like the Derwent south of Hobart we could see the other side with similar housing gradually becoming closer as we went along. Immediately it was apparent that scenic views were going to be limited due to the very low cloud this day.
At the apex the bay suddenly becomes a round basin and there is Dunedin. In many respects Dunedin is like I expected it to be - with many stoic old stone buildings. We stopped briefly at the Railway Station with its extravagant tiles and mosaics.
From there we wound through the steep slopes of the central city roads to a historic home - Olveston House.
This truly amazing house is an intact example of the last generation of fine houses built for the wealthy to live with a full contingent of servants. Almost beyond description - it's what you might expect to see on a grand English estate. I bought a booklet to later remind myself of the details.
From there we went to the Otago Museum (Otaga being the name of this region). While principally about the local region this is a world class museum. We felt it was slightly superior to the Te Papa in Wellington. The collection of Moa skeletons alone were worth the visit.
After that the bus took us past the "world's steepest street" which certainly looks it. We spotted some tourists walking their way there. It was otherwise an ordinary Dunedin housing street - we saw a car go to the top and park in a driveway. I suspect many nearby streets are probably the 2nd and 3rd steepest.
Next was the botanic gardens. It was already apparent that plant life is generally lush in Dunedin and the Botanic Gardens clearly has plants from all over the world. There was a greenhouse with a wing of cacti and I suspect that worked by keeping water out rather than in. The gardens are very extensive and we only had time to explore one small part - where we reached signs indicated it was a further 300m to get to the rhodadendrum garden and aviary.
We declined to be dropped off back in the city as we'd had enough of shopping and weren't prepared to trust the weather. Despite this, our travel round and about gave us a good picture of how much the city is affected by and indeed centred around the University of Otago. Our driver had just graduated and happily pointed out the numerous student colleges, flats, watering holes and other haunts as well as the extents of the university itself.
Back to the ship for lunch and a rest (we watched the movie Julie&Julia).
Then in the late afternoon I went up to the top deck to watch our exit out the narrow bay. As the cloud/mist/spray was very thick this wasn't greatly scenic but in its own way was almost ethereal as capes and bays would float in and out of visibility as the ship turned and travel along. After widening, the gap quickly narrowed as we finally passed through a narrow gap between sand bars and a rocky cape. As the waves in the bay increased and became ocean waves I watched as the pilot boat came alongside - I presume to transfer the local pilot. The pilot boat then crashed through the waves past us to reach an empty cargo ship waiting to come in (probably to dock where our ship had been). I could tell the cargo ship was empty because it was so high out of the water that its propeller was visible slicing in and out of the water.
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