18,869 kms to Edinburgh

Having been as far south as we were going we now headed north again up the east coast.  This time heading for Dunedin - the Edinburgh of the South( I was told).  

The journey was mostly over the plains and paddock(field) after paddock of sheep.  Our guide says that there are 4.5 N Zealanders, there must be at least the same number of sheep, if not more.  Apparently lamb is very dear here because it’s mostly all exported.

The only other animal we saw was deer, which is also farmed and exported to Germany.  Now remember that bit of trivia, it may come in useful at some point.

We arrived in Dunedin in early afternoon and had the afternoon to walk around.  I’m afraid by the time I returned to the hotel I had no idea why Rev. Burns from Mossgiel, Ayrshire felt that the colony he settled here should be called Dunedin after Edinburgh but the folk who live here are very proud of their association. In the centre of town, at the railway station it tells you how far you are from Edinburgh. They also have a piece of Edinburgh Castle Rock there, which was a gift.  To be honest it could be rock from anywhere.  

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The station has some beautiful stain glass windows.

The river which flows through Dunedin was meant to be called the Clyde but as there was already a river Clyde up north it was called the Clutha and no it does not have a pub called the Clutha vaults anywhere near it.

It wasn’t until the next morning when we went up to Signal Point that I could see any similarities.  It is surrounded by hills in much the same way as Edinburgh and the harbour anchorage is reminiscent of Leith in some ways. 

Many of the suburbs are built on the hills and Baldwin St in Dunedin is the steepest street in the world attested by the Guinness Book of Records. The photo looking down the hill was not taken by me.  You’ll be glad to know that my camera went up the hill- not me.

Once we left Dunedin we headed for the coast and stopped at Moeraki to see the boulders which are thrown up around this part of the coast.

They are made of a particular type of limestone and are hundreds of years old.  Over time they will begin to break down.

(Hoped you noticed there wasn’t one mountain in this post!) Blogger is playing at silly bees today so this is a bit of a mess