People & Places
Out and about in Dunedin
Ever consider Dunedin for your new home? Hamish Saxton highlights what the city has to offer the intrepid explorer
The city of Dunedin began as an idea in Scotland and has continued to evolve and take shape during the course of three centuries. Towards the end of Queen Victoria's reign, Dunedin had become the country's commercial and financial capital. It had also become New Zealand's first university city. By the end of the 19th Century the foundations had also been laid for New Zealand's richest architectural heritage.
Romantic, imposing, functional, and now fiercely protected, these Victorian and Edwardian buildings can be seen at every turn: The Law Courts, Troup's Railway Station, the Otago Museum, Speights Brewery, banks, churches, insurance buildings, schools and the various university buildings, to name but a few. Private homes and personal memorials are no less spectacular. The majority of these fine heritage buildings can be seen during a morning's leisurely walk, starting at the Octagon, the municipal heart of the city.
Wildlife
By an accident of geography and an act of cool climate, the rugged headlands at the entrance to Dunedin's harbour are home to several of New Zealand's precious and endangered marine species. The need to protect these national treasures has seen the city earn recognition as New Zealand's eco-capital.
Sir David Bellamy, one of the world's top environmentalists, observed that "The Otago Peninsula is the finest example of eco-tourism in the world". A visit to the Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head is exhilarating for this is the only remaining land-based Northern Royal Albatross breeding colony in the world. It is possible to watch these extraordinary birds lift themselves onto the winds that sweep in from the Southern Ocean and the visitor leaves with an increased sense of guardianship. Similarly, it is possible to see the world's rarest penguin, the yellow eyed, at home in their natural environment, fur seals lolling in a sea-surge of braided bull kelp, wading birds feeding on estuarine flats and to visit the marine aquarium at Portobello. This is an interactive experience where you observe sub-aquatic life forms at home in their natural environment.
There are several ways to visit the Peninsula. A cruise down Dunedin Harbour, cruise and coach combined, organised local tours or you may wish to visit independently by a road that skirts endless bays revealing a series of charming harbourscapes everywhere you look.
Eating out
It would take forty days and forty nights to visit all the city's restaurants, brassieres, cafés, pubs, and clubs. Virtually every ethnic cuisine is represented and the range and quality of food is astonishing for a city of 120,000 people. There is something to delight every palate. Dunedin is gaining kudos for its cool-water seafood: the flavour of bluecod and Bluff oysters have to be savoured to be believed. Many ethnic restaurants are to be found close to the student quarter at the city's north-end. There you will find a wide choice of cuisine that is very reasonably priced.
Artists at work
Many have said that the sense of quiet establishment Dunedin presents is deceiving. This is a city of the moment. Behind the façade of a stone store front that is 150 years old, you're likely to discover an Internet café. Dunedin is evolving into a dynamic city whose new capital is intellectual property.
Dowling street has been called the city's Silicon Valley. Here, the way the world watched televised sport was changed forever when a small start-up revolutionised computer graphics and visual effects. Across the road a film company called Natural History makes documentaries and features that have awakened billions of viewers to the fragile wonders of this planet.
From lofts around the city a coterie of dynamic young fashion designers have emerged and the world of international fashion is noting the names of Mild Red, Carlson, Dot com, and Aduki. Artists and artisans abound. The university works with private enterprise in fields of science and biotechnology that has already produced developments that will benefit people the world over.
Touring town
You'll discover that everything Dunedin has to offer is easily accessible, which makes this a walker's city. Most sights are just a relaxed stroll from each other. The university, for example, is just across the road from the Otago Museum. Ten minutes north is the Botanic Garden where an hour's pottering will hardly be enough. The Railway Station is next to the Settler's Museum. The Art Gallery, Visitors' Centre and Burns Statue are all in the Octagon.
In the North East Valley you'll find the world's steepest street and at Speight's Brewery, taste the world's sharpest beer. Take a tour of the world famous Cadburys chocolate factory, or visit Olveston, a stately historic home, and you'll swear you glimpsed a Victorian housemaid hurrying below stairs as you came into the entry hall.
Coaches and guided tours will take you to Larnach Castle, Signal Hill and the Otago Peninsula. The vistas are broad and sweeping, of harbour and hill, forest and farm. You'll overlook a city that has a feeling of intimacy, orderliness and purpose. Leaving the Railway Station daily is an excursion that has become one of New Zealand's most lauded attractions.
Construction of the Taieri Gorge Railway began in 1878 and this pioneer development is considered a masterpiece of colonial engineering. The Taieri Gorge section of Central Otago Railway was saved from closure in 1990 by a group of visionary Dunedin businesspeople. The Dunedin to Middlemarch line is 86 kilometres long and the scenery is spectacular. Any time spent in Dunedin is incomplete without making this beautiful and historic journey. From both Pukerangi and Middlemarch coaches meet the train and connect with Queenstown and Central Otago. Many have said that the Taieri Gorge Railway was a highlight of their time in Dunedin and the perfect introduction to the wide-open spaces of Central Otago, the grandeur of Queenstown, and the Southern Lakes and Fiordland.
Dunedin's international airport is located 30 minutes south of the city. Frequent flights connect it with other major New Zealand cities and provincial centres. International flights link the city to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia.
There is no particular 'best' time to visit this city. There is always a season or event worth catching, either sporting or cultural. No matter when you are in the city, time spent in Dunedin will create the impression that it was designed for the 21st Century. You'll discover that heritage has not been sacrificed for future vision and an elegant history does not need to sit uncomfortably with developing technology.
Dunedin has been called a city of enchanting contrasts; casual, relaxed, yet at the same time vital and stimulating. Certainly, it is a walking, browsing city, content with its own pace and place, yet there is a surprise around every corner and at every turn. It is, as many visitors have said, New Zealand's extraordinary treasure and a bright gem in the country's crown.
For further information:
DunedinNZ
Dunedin Bookit
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Get to know Hamilton
Christchurch: A city for everyone
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