We had a really wonderful day today, though it was a little bittersweet because it was our final port day of this cruising season. I agreed even more today with what I felt during the New Zealand cruise in November: I could live on the South Island of New Zealand. Except for the earthquakes (which scare the bejeebers out of me) of course. But it’s really one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, the climate is never really hot nor really cold, and snow, at least at the lower elevations, is fairly rare. It’s pretty darn perfect.
While the Golden Princess was scheduled to arrive in Port Chalmers, about a 20-minute drive from Dunedin, at 8am, the local officials must not have had us on their schedule. It was closer to 9am by the time the ship was cleared and passengers could go ashore. We were very good and waited in our cabin instead of crowding the gangway, but we were getting anxious. After our plan to ride on the Dunedin Railways Seasider train was scuttled in November, we had re-booked it for this morning at 10am, never imagining that we might have trouble getting to the railway station in time.
In the interest of time, we boarded a shuttle to Dunedin ($15 NZD round trip, paid in the terminal) instead of taking a local bus to town. The bus dropped us at The Octagon, about a 5-minute walk from the picturesque Dunedin Railway Station (the most photographed building in New Zealand). We made it, only because the train was delayed a few minutes to wait for a group to board.
We chose this train trip because its length (only 90 minutes round trip) still offered some great coastal views, but it also afforded us time to do a little more exploring in Dunedin. Although we had seen a lot of the town and the scenic Otago Peninsula on our last visit, there were still a couple of places we wanted to visit. It wasn’t a brightly sunny day, but it was a nice day, and the first part of the train ride, on the historic Dunedin Silver Fern railcars, followed along Otago Harbour back toward Port Chalmers and the cruise ship. The Holland America Maasdam was also in port with us today (we did two cruises on that ship during our first winter of cruising, but I didn’t blog then), only the second time this season we’ve had to share a port with another ship.
Source: 
We continued along the harbor, climbing through three tunnels to reach the top of the cliffs overlooking Otago Harbour, and then the Pacific Ocean and Blueskin Bay to Waitati. Because we had been among the last passengers to board the train, we were not seated on the water side on our outbound journey. But, on the return, the train seats were literally turned (as in twisted) around, and we switched sides across the aisle, so our views on the return were spectacular. I took a hundred photos (that I’ll confess to, but actually far more) and we returned to Dunedin about 11:40am.
For $50 NZD per person ($35 USD), it’s the perfect trip for someone who has either already done the Taieri Gorge (as we had) or doesn’t want a 7-hour train ride, as the Gorge trip is.
We photographed all the beautiful blooming flowers in front of the Dunedin Railway Station, and then made our way across the street and around the block to the Cadbury’s factory and store. We had not stopped there last time, but today thought we really should buy at least a little chocolate while we were in Dunedin. For $10 NZD ($7 USD), we purchased four giant bars of 70% cocoa, dark chocolate with almonds, dark chocolate with fruit and even an Oreo bar for G. We tucked into the 70% bar almost immediately; that was lunch. ;-)
Our final stop for the day was the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, located next to the Dunedin Railways Station. We knew there was no admission charge (donations accepted) and really weren’t expecting much but I almost couldn’t get G out of there. It is New Zealand’s oldest and most extensive historic museum, and it is a wonder. It starts with Maori life and culture but has even more exhibits about the European settlement of New Zealand.
I could write forever about the huge collection of artifacts and information, extremely well displayed, but one of our many favorite areas was a full-sized model of the sleeping quarters on a 19th century sailing vessel on which immigrants would have traveled from England. There were several short videos depicting an immigrant’s life at sea and a display that featured the minimum items an immigrant needed to be able to show in their possession before they would be allowed to board the ship (with separate lists for men, women and children). Fascinating stuff.
Living quarters on an immigrant ship
Very interesting!
Times have changed
I had one of these!While G might have lost me in the exhibit about the history of fashion (including several old sewing machines and handmade laces), I barely got him out of the vintage transportation exhibit, housed in the former bus station of Dunedin Railways Road Services. And the exhibit of the history of office machines, from old typewriters to comptometers to the first Apple Macintosh computer to the first iPad fascinated both of us. We stayed far longer than we had intended to.
Inside view of the trailer
Steve Larkins of Mercury Rising is from Dunedin. This must have been an ancestor.
Too many of these were familiar...
...including this, which got us both through graduate school. ;-)We left the museum and sat for a few minutes in Queen’s Gardens, directly across the street, where the Dunedin Cenotaph honoring the veterans of the two World Wars is located. It was 3:30pm by then, and the last shuttle from town back to the ship left The Octagon at 4:30pm, so we walked the few blocks back and reboarded the ship about 4:15pm. For the final time these season, we rushed through showers to go to dinner in the Bernini Dining Room. It was the Italian menu (love it) and I had a seafood starter, spinach salad with pine nuts and balsamic dressing and a wonderful combo of penne arrabbiata, shrimp and broccoli. Headwaiter Sean says he has something special planned for me for New Years Eve dinner tomorrow night. Spoiled!
Vocalist Peter Bryne returned this cruise with his tribute to Neil Diamond. We had seen him in the Vista Lounge at the beginning of this season but tonight’s show was in the Princess Theater. He kept an audience exhausted from six port days in a row and, for many of them, a full day train excursions very engaged and entertained, no small feat.
At 9:50pm, it is foggy but still light out, kind of that same twilight that Alaska has during its longest days of the summer. Though it’s currently calm, sea sick bags have been set out around the ship. Captain Pomata announced that we’re in for some rough seas overnight and tomorrow due to a low pressure system around the southern tip of New Zealand. I hope it doesn’t affect our ability to get into Fiordland National Park tomorrow. You know how much I enjoy those days when we stay on the ship and the scenery comes to us!