Otago

As we headed out to Larnach's Castle, we got quite a bit of a good info and some nice views of the area. As before, I am going to list all the fun facts, and hope you enjoy them.
▪︎We came into Port Chalmers, which much like the ship, the early settlers came into as well.
▪︎Several of those settling here were whalers and sealers and obviously set up on the coast to do their job
▪︎When the settlers returned to Britain, they spread news about this new place, but Edinburgh, Scotland residents heard the most of this new state Otago and thus settled here and named the city Dunedin: Edinburgh of the South.
▪︎Much like in California, there was a gold rush here that brought more people to the area. Dunedin became a fast growing city.
▪︎ But with any new city-settlement, supplies were needed. Instead of going to the UK or Australia to obtain these goods, they decided to make thenitems themselves from buttons to locomotives.
▪︎However, as the north end of the island started to be built up in the 20th century, Dunedin lost its appeal. The city didn't grow as fast as it once had. Some companies moved up in that direction as well. Dunedin is known as the heritage capital of the island.
▪︎The rugby stadium that is pictured is now the new "Cathedral". It holds between 30-35k fans. When it isn't holding a rugby match, it is an entertainment venue much like in the States.
▪︎University of Otago was the first established university in the area and is the home to 30k students, 80% of the student body coming from out of town.
▪︎There's 2 pictures of Cabbage Street. This street is the steepest in the world with a 1:3 ratio as you climb up it. Fun fact: once a year, the candy company makes 30k jaffers wrapped in orange foil (size of a marble) to race down the hill. Each jaffer is numbered, and people buy however many jaffers they wish to see if their jaffer wins - gets down the hill first... they end up in a funnelnso the first one out of the funnel is the winner.
▪︎The houses here aren't as high priced as in Auckland. Mid-level suburban home runs about $600k NZD, so about $400k USD or a little less. Seems about right in our current market.
▪︎Dunedin used to have the busiest train station running about 100 trains a day. Now, no passenger trains except for tours; now primarily freight. They did have the last built locomotive engine out but in a shed, but I didn't see it until I was back on the bus.

Those are all the fun facts to Dunedin... that I wrote down anyway.

I am at sea for the next 3 days. We are headed up to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. I won't be sharing until I get there.
Hope you've enjoyed my New Zealand adventures. Time to go to Australia for more adventures.Read more