Port Chalmers and Denedin, NZ - South Island

Port Chalmers is a small port city that is the gateway to Dunedin, which is a replica of Edinburgh, Scotland. Both the scenery and architecture is heavily Scottish. This city was mostly settled when the gold rush took place in NZ in the 1860's.  The homes reflect the wealth of the city at that time. We took a panorama tour of the city and enjoyed the botanical gardens, the railway station with a small of beautiful art gallery, and the downtown octagon.  There is plenty to do in this city and lots of adventurous activities. We were not able to do them as the weather was a bit chilly and windy.  We did manage to find a few knit shops and I did purchase some merino sock yarn.  We also picked up some Cadbury chocolate with the last of NZ currency.  Cadbuy has a candy factory in this city.  (Cadbury, once a Brittish company is now owned by Kraft)  Dunedin also boasts the steepest street (Baldwin Street) in the world as recorded in the Guiness Book of Records.  We did see the street and were invited to climb it... ah, we took a pass. It is VERY steep!

The iconic railway station and art gallery in Dunedin.

Stained glass window in the railway station.

Cadbury factory in Dunedin.

Outside photo of the railway station.

Downtown Dunedin. VERY Scottish city.

Dunedin.

Dunedin Botanical Gardens.

The roses were almost unreal!

The evening entertainment was Adam and Selina, a brother a sister magic show from AU.  They had an adorable little 7 year old boy from the audience on the stage which made the show MOST enjoyable.

The past few evenings we have been eating in the open seating oceanview cafe. There they have several food stations, each with an ethnic theme.( A bit like Marche')  There is a fantastic view from this restaurant and it is casual. We usually have breakfast there too. Onc morning we had room service bring us breakfast but we prefer to get up and meet the morning on deck with coffee and fruit.  We did not go to the formal dining room the night they had crocodile... tonight they are featuring kangaroo. Hmmm. Not sure if we will do that as it is again formal night and we are getting lazy about getting dressed up!