16th November 2009

Just an update on last night, the Captain told us it was a gale that we came through and at times the ship was rolling through about 8 degrees which does not sound a lot, but believe me it is. The captain also said that the roll of 8 degrees was a lot for a ship of this type and we are just pleased he told us that afterwards. The restaurant had lost about 800 plates and almost 300 pieces of glassware. Furthermore, the Sun Princess which was in Dunedin yesterday and supposed to sail last night could not get out of port because of the high seas and did not leave until early this morning. Anyway, it has been an experience, just one neither of us would like to repeat and it was a pleasure to get on dry land today.

Now for today; the wind was cold, the temperature about 8 degrees and we had several showers of sleet, but when the sun shone it was quite warm. We went into Dunedin. The coach journey took about 20 minutes and our first view of New Zealand was green and lots of sheep! Dunedin is a bustling university city located at the head of the long, narrow and wonderfully picturesque Otago Harbour. It is the 2nd largest city in the South Island with a population of around 100,000 people. Plans for the town were drawn up in England without regard to the actual topography of the land and as a result many of the streets in the city go straight up very steep hills. Dunedin actually boasts the steepest street in the world as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. I would hate to drive here in the winter when the roads are icy. I would imagine it is a nightmare.

We had nothing planned so took an hour long guided bus tour round the city. The centre has 1 main street (with streets off), but seems well covered with 'cheapie' shops to well-known branded ones. The tour ended at the Railway Station which is a most impressive building with a floor laid with Royal Doulton tiles. There is only one problem though, there are no trains!!! Apart from goods trains there have been no passenger trains for nearly half a century. We then went to look at the Settlers Museum which also housed the Transport Museum and a gallery on Freemasonry. It was all very interesting. Rosalyn would have liked a merino wool jumper, but despite there being more sheep than people here in NZ, the cost was ridiculously high, anything from £75 to £250 so she didn't get one!!!!

Our overall impression in such a short time in Dunedin was one of a small English town – although the Scottish wouldn't like that comment as the first settlers were obviously from Dunedin in Scotland. We couldn't hope to do the place justice and can only say that having listened to other people who did the various ship excursions that there is plenty to see.