Birthday in Dunedin

Look what I got for my Birthday!!

This morning, we started off heading back downtown to do a walking tour of some of the local architecture. The first European settlers were Scots including the nephew of Robbie Burns who is the feature statue of the town square. A lot of Scottish influence in the buildings.

Most of the historic buildings date from the late 1800's and early 1900's. Here is a sample of some of the buildings and churches we liked.

There is also the Speight's Brewery downtown but somehow I just couldn't bring myself to pay for a tour. It sort of looked like the Elsinore Brewery from the movie Strange Brew!

We met a chauffeur who was driving this wicked 1972 Daimler limo. We stopped to talk and apparently Queen Elizabeth was the first passenger and later Nelson Mandella.

The hi light building is the railway station, built in Edwardian style with mosaic tile floors and stained glass windows.

A few other street scenes of downtown Dunedin.

After climbing back up the hill to our apartment, we embarked on a road trip to the Otago Peninsula. We took the ridge road on the way out and had Chris had some splendid views while I concentrated on the very narrow road with no shoulders and sheer drop offs.

We did manage to stop a couple of times so I could partake in the scenery.

Cresting one rise, I finally saw one. I have been on the quest for a black sheep for weeks after seeing probably about 1,000,000 white ones. Luckily there was a driveway to pull off into and I recorded my find!

We stopped at Larnach Castle, built by a wealthy banker in 1871. We didn't take the tour but did spend some time on the grounds which provided great vistas of the peninsula and Otago Harbour.

From there we travelled to the end of the peninsula to The Royal Albatros Centre. A nice nature interpretive centre focused on the local Royal Albatros colony. The only one in the world located on the mainland. Outside, there were about a dozen putting on an aerial acrobatics display.

These guys have a 2.8 metre wingspan!

Nearby on the ocean side, were a colony of Shag, living on the cliff side.

Rather than dine in town, we decided to stop at a quaint cafe in the little town of Portobello.

I had a great birthday supper of seafood chowder and venison. Had to hold the wine to one glass due to the nature of the road back into town.

All in all, a great way to spend a birthday!