We got up at eight o’clock as usual, and looked out of our window to another fine day. The Edge was on her way to Dunedin, where she was due to dock in Port Chalmers around 9.00am. We didn’t have any excursions booked, preferring instead to do our own thing. 🙂
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Māori and Scottish heritage.
We decided to have our breakfast in the restaurant this morning instead of the Ocean View buffet, but when we arrived at our designated eating place, the Tuscan Restaurant, we were told that that was only for those in the Elite tier (or above) of the Captain’s Club. We’ll be in that tier after this cruise, but for now, we were directed to the Normandy Restaurant instead. Couldn’t see what difference it made, really.
We selected a table next to the window so we could watch the Edge’s progress into port. One waiter arrived with a menu, while another poured us a cup of coffee and yet another one came around with fresh croissants and Danish pastries. I ordered a bowl of raisin bran to start, followed by mushroom omelette.
It took quite a while for our first course to arrive and, once we’d eaten it, it took ages for them to take our bowls away, ready for the next course. It was a good half hour before my omelette and Trevor’s Eggs Benedict arrived, by which time the ship had docked. We probably would have been better off going to the self-service after all; the service in the dining room we had found to be unacceptably slow.
After we’d finished our breakfast, we looked out of the dining room window and saw that people had started to disembark and a row of shuttle buses was waiting. We returned to 3142 and got ready, making sure we had our passports and other paperwork as well as our New Zealand dollars, credit cards and shipboard passes. Then we went down to deck 2 to disembark.
The queue was enormous. I think all 2,900 passengers had decided to disembark at once. The queue was all the way along the corridor, all around the casino, back through another corridor and all the way around one of the restaurants. People were arriving all the time, so even if we’d left it for a while the chances were the queue would still have been as long. This is something that we’re not used to on a cruise ship; we do tend to prefer 1500 passengers or (preferably) fewer. There is no way we’d ever cruise on the mega ships with over 6,000 passengers; that would be horrendous.
Eventually though, we reached the gangway and disembarked the Edge. There was another queue for the shuttle buses, and once again we shuffled forward to await our turn, but soon we were aboard and on our way into Dunedin. We really looked forward to exploring “Little Scotland”, as Dunedin is affectionately known.
After about a 20-minute ride, the bus dropped us off in the main square. We could see shops, cafés, bars, pubs and commercial buildings. A tall, distinctive church spire rose up in the near distance, and we decided to head there first; I like looking around churches. 🙂
As we walked along, we really felt as if we could have been in Britain. The weather was pleasant, but there was a nippy little breeze that made it feel cooler than it actually was. We walked along towards the church, which was set in a grassy green landscaped area, surrounded by a low stone wall topped with iron railings. A gap in the railings led to a wide path which took us to the front door of the church.
A sign outside proclaimed that this was the First Church of Otago, a Presbyterian church designed by the architect Robert Lawson in 1862, the construction of which commenced in May 1868. The foundation stone was laid by the Reverend Thomas Burns, who was the first Presbyterian minister of the province. Here was another Scottish connection; Rev. Thomas Burns was the nephew of the famous poet Robert Burns. It’s unfortunate that the Reverend Burns died in 1871, two years before the church was completed. There is a large memorial plaque outside on the stone wall dedicated to Rev. Burns.
It was lovely inside the church. Sunlight streamed through the colourful stained glass windows and there was an unusual double organ situated either side of the alter. What made the church different was that it was wider than it was long when facing the altar.
We passed into an anteroom which also served as a heritage centre, with a couple of pleasant ladies available to answer any questions. As I looked towards the windows I saw a bloke sitting on a high-backed chair and wondered what he was doing there; a closer look let me see that it was a waxwork of the aforementioned Rev Burns! There were also a couple of wedding dresses on loan to the church by the families of people who had been married there.
All in all, it was very interesting, and we enjoyed our visit. 🙂
Back outside on the streets, we continued walking along, looking around with interest. We saw an amazingly ornate, long building with a tower at one end and wondered what it was: a museum, a library or another church? It was none of these – it was the railway station! Fantastic. We had to have a look inside.
Dunedin Railway Station was opened in 1906 and was typical of a Victorian railway station. In the ticketing hall, there were arches, cornices, a high gallery running around the upper room and mosaics on the floor. It was amazing. On the platform was the typical large railway station clock, the station name sign and the stone building with its arched windows. It evoked the times of the steam engines and you could almost hear the train whistles and smell the distinctive steamy, smoky, oily aroma.
After leaving the station, we decided a cold beer or two would go down a treat, so we headed back through the busy streets looking for a pub. We spotted a place called Albar that had a sign outside offering tasting samples, so we went inside. It was just like a pub you’d find in Scotland, with a large selection of Scotch whiskies and even Tennents lager.
We ordered five 150ml samples of beer to see which one we liked best, so we could order a pint of it. We both liked the same one, so we ordered a cold pint (can’t remember what it was called!). We also made the most of the free wi-fi, as the internet on the ship is abysmally slow. 🙂
Afterwards we decided to walk around to the Dunedin Social Club and have another beer to spend some more of our NZ dollars, as this was our last port of call before leaving New Zealand. 🙁
We walked back along to the Social Club, which interestingly is situated in Princes Street! We went inside, where they were doing a roaring trade; the only available seats were on bar stools at the bar. We ordered a jug of the “beer of the day” which was a lager; the jug must have held about three pints as we had approximately 1.5 each.
We then browsed through some of the shops for a while and wandered around, before making our way back to the shuttle bus stop, as the “all aboard” time today was 4.30pm.
As we stepped onto the gangplank, our feet left New Zealand soil for the last time. It wasn’t the end of our visit to this amazing country, however; we would spend all day tomorrow cruising through the famous Sounds. 🙂
Back on the Edge we went to the Grand Plaza to indulge in one of their scrumptious piña colada each. They really are the nicest piña coladas ever.
Then it was back to 3142 to get washed and changed and ready for dinner. Once again, we decided to go to the Ocean View self-service buffet. It’s a pity, but we just didn’t think the food or the service was up to scratch in the Tuscan Restaurant.
At five o’clock the Edge slipped her moorings and set off from Port Chalmers. Once again, we passed stacks and stacks of sawn logs waiting to be exported. What a fantastic visit we had had to New Zealand; so different and unique in many ways, but at the same time strangely familiar. 🙂
We enjoyed a selection of the various dishes on offer in the Ocean View and then, at 19:40 hours, I decided to go out on deck to try to catch the sunset at 19:45. The sun was very low in the sky but there were still a few mountains around, so the best we could hope for was the glow and the orange sky effect. I still managed to get a good photo though, along with one of the ship’s wake against the warm glow of a sunset sky.
At half past eight we headed along to The Club, where there was a game called “Guests v Officers Whisper Challenge”. Each participant, apart from the first one, was given a headset playing loud music and the first person was give a phrase to say. They had to repeat it to the first person in the headphones, who in turn repeated what they thought they’d heard to the next person. So it continued down the line, so it ended where the last person’s phrase bore no resemblance to what was actually said. It was actually quite hilarious. The officers won that game; they must have been better lip-readers then the guests. 🙂
The main entertainment tonight featured the show company with their production of “A Hot Summer Night’s Dream”, an eclectic musical extravaganza loosely based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The music, lighting, singing, dancing and special effects were superb, and it was an excellent show. I must say that all the shows we had seen so far were completely original; we’d never seen them on any other ships. 🙂
After the show I was quite tired and decided to go back to 3142 to read for a while before turning in, but Trevor chose to go along to The Club where the solo guitarist Charlie was playing a selection of Johnny Cash songs.
It was around 11.30pm when we settled down for the night. We had a full day of scenic cruising to look forward to tomorrow, and I really hoped the blue skies and sunny weather would continue.
We slept well.