Along the way we stopped at the Moaraki Rocks along the coast. Basically, giant boulders sitting on the beach. Scientists are not completely sure how they formed.
Upon arrival we headed towards the city I-site for information and location of the local churches. Devon and I wanted to attend church since it was Easter Sunday and decided to attend the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Dunedin. It was a large cathedral and service was a traditional service. We stayed afterwards to mingle with the local crowd and have a cup of tea and coffee. We met another retired couple from San Diego. They were only in town for the day and were part of a cruise headed for the fjords on the other side of the island in the morning. We tried to meet up with them for a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory but the tour was already booked by the time we tried to get tickets. We also briefly met another couple, the man was from South Africa and the woman was from Georgia. We did not get to chat with them for the locals were quiet interested in us visitors and had the usual allotment of questions.
The rest of Sunday and Monday were spent walking around the city center, the downtown shops, Otago Museum, and the University campus. We spent Sunday night in a holiday park campsite and got to shower and use a kitchen, Yea!
Monday afternoon we took a road trip out to the Otago Peninsula and had lunch along the coast at a place called Lovers Leap and The Chasm.
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| The light and angle of the sun was perfect to show a reflection of the grey clouds on the surface of the ocean! |
Dunedin is a cool city with a population of roughly 110,000 and some grand stone architecture. Loaded with historical churches and building. Its also home to the Speights Brewery: one of the oldest and the best selling beer in New Zealand. It was an interesting tour but doesn't live up to the Sierra Nevada Brewery Tour. A sad but reoccurring truth keeps emerging on our trip, New Zealand's survival is dependent on two things: dairy and tourism. Anything that can be turned into a tourist attraction is made into a money making business. The tour included a beer museum and history of beer which I think is a really neat idea in theory, however its execution at Speights came off cheesy and corny. Looking on the bright side, we got to learn about some beer history I was unaware of and its place in New Zealand history. At the end of the hour and fifteen minute tour we got to try 5 beers and 1 cider. Not horrible for 23 bucks each but just saying Sierra Nevada's tour is free and you get to try 8 beers and a couple of those are never bottled and released to the public, just saying, Chico is a lucky town to have a great brewery like Sierra Nevada. Afterwards we enjoyed a very tasty sit down dinner at Lone Star Restaurant down the street from the brewery.
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| Favorite part of the tour: tasting! |
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