Dunedin

We had a long drive from Wanaka to Dunedin , backtracking to Cromwell before stopping off  to see Clyde where Lake Dunstan had been formed by a dam on the Clutha river .This caused the old town of Cromwell to be removed and resited to its present position including some of its original buildings.

We drove on through  to the central Otago town of Alexandra where we took the northern route to bring us to Dunedin via a loop that went north to Ranfurly and then southward to Palmerston eventually entering  Dunedin from the north.

The land of the central region was very reminiscent of the Penine moorlands with sheep dotted all over which then gives way to fertile farmland as you get closer to the eastern coats which gets extra rainfall to account for the greener appearance.

Dunedin’s heyday was as a gold rush city and was the country’s commercial centre in the 1860’s.The city centre is relatively flat but is surrounded by hills giving good views of the city and the harbour.The close historical links with Edinburgh  of which Dunedin is the Gaelic form include many street names and street layouts also includes the ever present bagpiper

The centre piece of the city is the Octagon which is the centre of ‘New Edinburgh’ as surveyed by the Edinburgh based surveyors.One hundred and sixty five years later it continues to fulfil that  role all overlooked by a statue of Robert Burns erected in front of the St Pauls Cathedral which had his nephew as the first spiritual leader to the first group of Scottish settlers who came here in 1848.

Next to the Cathedral are the Municipal Chambers which were completed in 1880 and which after considerable restoration and refurbishment is now the home to the Council  and has a number of reception rooms and is the site of the Visitor Centre.

Another feature of the Octagon is the Public Art gallery which is modern but designed to fit in with the other heritage buildings.A range of art is displayed from early renaissance,Dutch and some preRaphehlite pieces to contemporary and traditional  Maori artwork.

Perhaps the highlight of the city’s architecture is the Railway Station which is one of the country’s finest heritage buildings.It’s not large by international standards but its proportions give it an aire of grandeur.Built in a Flemish renaissance style it opened in 1906 its stonework has a distinctive contrasting detail of Beige Oamaru limestone,Central Otago Bluestone and finely polished Aberdeen granite columns.To my mind the whole thing is a bit of a mix of elements and features, almost like a catalogue for future buildings.I would have expected a symmetrical design but it includes a clock tower , a turret, a single story extension and a rounded return at the other end all with a two storey façade,loggia and portico main entrance. It’s the inside that really takes over though with impressive staircase, stained glass windows  and ornately tile decorated ticket windows and a Royal Doulton tiled floor that contains 725,000 porcelain squares forming images of engines, rolling stock and the New Zealand Railways logo.The station is still a functioning station and is the terminus for visiting the Taieri Gorge Railway which is a 77km four hour trip cutting through 10 tunnels, crossing bridges and viaducts over the Taieri River.