New Zealand #14: Dunedin
Jul. 20th, 2009 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canadian_turtleMood: 
|| Rushed
Tune : Watching How I Met Your Mother
July 14: Since I only had two proper days in Dunedin I tried to make the most out of it all; booking my days pretty much full. The last half of today didn't exactly work out as planned though but more about that later.
I got up early and went to explore the city. One of the first things I did was hop by Cadbury World to enquire about a tour and they had a free space left for the tour that was starting right then so I quickly joined in. It was so much better than all the other tours I've had in chocolate factories. For one we actually went inside of the factory (we even had to wear horrible hair nets!) and saw the process of making chocolate up close and personal (they were currently working on the Easter chocolate! Which they apparently prepare from January until July...) and we also got heaps of free chocolate (even more when we answered questions right or could eat our chocolate before the DVD showing ended) which was of course also very awesome. The highlight was for sure the end of the tour where we went inside a giant silo (unrelated to the factory, this is just for the tourists) where we saw 1 ton of liquid chocolate fall down in front of our eyes! After the 1.5 long tour I spent some time in their little museum which was cute, too bad it isn't anywhere near Christmas time though as apparently they have a "Santa's Grotto" filled with moving displays of elves etcetera.
After Cadbury World I made a quick stop at the amazingly beautiful Railway Station in Dunedin (second most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere, after the Sydney Opera House!) before rushing back to my hostel. The guy who owns it had the previous day offered to give me a lift to the nearby castle which I was dying to see. Unfortunately that trip turned out completely different. First: he forgot about me and had to go back to the hostel so it was fairly late already when we finally head off. Second: it turned out to be part of a tour he does daily which includes stops at pretty look-outs and around dusk watching penguins come back to the land -- but because he "forgot" about me (there were 3 other people) and ran out of time we didn't actually go to the castle! Third: as it was a tour it cost money. Not a whole lot, but still unexpected. Fourth: at one of the look-outs I slipped in the mud, covering all of my jeans, bag and shoes in mud as well as my camera which acted up for the rest of the day. So even though the look-outs were nice and I saw a penguin (only one though, in its hole. As I was unprepared for this trip it was way too cold to stay out long waiting for the penguins to come in – one other girl and I went back to the car. The others ended up not seeing any penguins either though) and because I was already short on time in Dunedin (and I didn't even get to see the castle!) this afternoon/evening was a complete waste of time in my eyes.
@Cadbury World!
Elves making Cream Eggs. This is how it really works in the factory! :P
Even the floors had chocolate in them, nom nom nom
A chocolate mixing machine
A LOT of crunchy bars
The purple silo is where the chocolate fall is located
My chocolate swag xD
The Dunedin Railway Station
View on our "trip"
I ended up throwing these shoes out...
July 15: The previous day I had made a quick stop at the i-site for information on interesting sights in the city and I picked up a brochure with 2 heritage walks. I started out early as I could do this by myself and wasn't dependant on openings hours or something like that. Doing the two walks combined took me about 2 hours in total and it was really nice. I saw some great old buildings, churches and statues located in Dunedin and read a bit about their origins and such.
By the time I was finished it was 10am and everything was open so I first made a stop at the Art Gallery, which was surprisingly quite awesome. I didn't have very high expectations but they had some contemporary art I really liked. The "I Was Russia" exhibit was odd though and consisted of amongst others 3 people in sexual positions with the heads of the trio from Harry Potter pasted on top of it and in another display the same with people like Bush and Bin Laden; not something you expect in an art gallery.
As I walked through the city I saw some people dressed up (three people were awesome, they were all yellow and looked like The Simpsons!) and I asked someone what was going on. Apparently the universities were almost starting up again and the student were doing something like a Cookathon, which meant dressing up and drinking all day at Cook's Tavern. It was before noon and people were already swaying drunk over the streets...
Anyway, my next stop was The Regent Theatre as there would be a Madagascar musical! I was fortunate enough to be in Dunedin during the annual chocolate festival and this was a part of it. Unfortunately I would leave the city before the main event: the giant jaffa race. It basically means that people buy numbered lottery tickets that correspond to numbers on 30,000 jaffas (orange flavoured chocolate balls). Then they'll roll those jaffas down Baldwin Street (steepest street in the world) and the first jaffa down is the winner. Sounds pretty cool yeah? Anyway, didn't get to see that. The Madagascar show was short but nice (and only 3 bucks so really not a waste of money anyway). And out of all the people I could sit next to in the theatre I happened to have sat down next to next to a Belgian woman who had immigrated to New Zealand only a year earlier. I had a nice time chatting to her and her daughter; they obviously enjoyed having someone to talk to in Dutch :)
After the musical I rushed back to the hostel yet again because the guy promised to take me to the castle today (as yesterday had been such a disaster) and he forgot again!! Thankfully the other person who works there was much better organised and knowing what a hassle it had been for me already he offered to drive me there so I made it finally! I had a really great time wandering through the gardens there, but because we left a lot later (waiting for the other guy again first) I missed out on tickets for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that night so this was also the first time since many HP releases I didn't see it on opening night :(
The evening turned unexpectedly quite exciting though. When I was in my room suddenly the bunk beds started shaking slightly and there was a rumbling sound outside like there were fireworks in the distance. At first I thought a truck was driving through the alley but the sounds and movements held on for quite a while, first becoming a little heavier before dying out and I quickly found out through Twitter that it had been an earth quake! (the first one I felt in my life, hence the excitement :P) The reason I only felt it slightly was because it was 300km away from Dunedin, but it was a pretty heavy earthquake, generating tsunamis that caused alerts for both New Zealand and Australia coasts for a while during the night.
Entry to Chinese Gardens (unfortunately didn't have time to go inside)
IDEK!
xD
MADAGASCAR!
Larnach Castle
Pretty view from the gardens
Stuff in the gardens reminded me of Alice in Wonderland
Chickens in the bushes (they're real)! Like I said, idek lol
July 16: I still had a few hours this morning to do some touristy things in Dunedin so I got up early again and ventured over to Baldwin Street (the steepest street in the world). It took me about an hour to walk there and then another 15 minutes or so to get to the top (it's really steep, omg!). When I was sitting on the bench at the top of the street, catching my breath, a family came walking up and we had a nice chat while we were all resting. They were lovely and offered to take me to another look-out (as they were going there themselves) but as I didn't have much time left in the city and I was determined to go to the museum I had to decline. Instead I made my way back to the city as soon as possible (though I did take a brief moment to pick up a certificate - saying I walked Baldwin Street - at the tourist shop at the bottom of the street) and spent my last two hours in Dunedin in the museum (which was awesome, but not as awesome as Te Papa in Wellington).
I found Building 26 O_O
Yes, it is as steep as it looks
xD
Made me think of the foot from Lost
"Run for the hills you broken fish creature"
This penguin made me lol because it looks like he's wearing a wig
Not properly visible on this picture but on the floor they showed a moving projection of ants running around and collecting honey to bring to their nest in the opposite side of the floor
More pictures can be found HERE.
|| RushedTune : Watching How I Met Your Mother
July 14: Since I only had two proper days in Dunedin I tried to make the most out of it all; booking my days pretty much full. The last half of today didn't exactly work out as planned though but more about that later.
I got up early and went to explore the city. One of the first things I did was hop by Cadbury World to enquire about a tour and they had a free space left for the tour that was starting right then so I quickly joined in. It was so much better than all the other tours I've had in chocolate factories. For one we actually went inside of the factory (we even had to wear horrible hair nets!) and saw the process of making chocolate up close and personal (they were currently working on the Easter chocolate! Which they apparently prepare from January until July...) and we also got heaps of free chocolate (even more when we answered questions right or could eat our chocolate before the DVD showing ended) which was of course also very awesome. The highlight was for sure the end of the tour where we went inside a giant silo (unrelated to the factory, this is just for the tourists) where we saw 1 ton of liquid chocolate fall down in front of our eyes! After the 1.5 long tour I spent some time in their little museum which was cute, too bad it isn't anywhere near Christmas time though as apparently they have a "Santa's Grotto" filled with moving displays of elves etcetera.
After Cadbury World I made a quick stop at the amazingly beautiful Railway Station in Dunedin (second most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere, after the Sydney Opera House!) before rushing back to my hostel. The guy who owns it had the previous day offered to give me a lift to the nearby castle which I was dying to see. Unfortunately that trip turned out completely different. First: he forgot about me and had to go back to the hostel so it was fairly late already when we finally head off. Second: it turned out to be part of a tour he does daily which includes stops at pretty look-outs and around dusk watching penguins come back to the land -- but because he "forgot" about me (there were 3 other people) and ran out of time we didn't actually go to the castle! Third: as it was a tour it cost money. Not a whole lot, but still unexpected. Fourth: at one of the look-outs I slipped in the mud, covering all of my jeans, bag and shoes in mud as well as my camera which acted up for the rest of the day. So even though the look-outs were nice and I saw a penguin (only one though, in its hole. As I was unprepared for this trip it was way too cold to stay out long waiting for the penguins to come in – one other girl and I went back to the car. The others ended up not seeing any penguins either though) and because I was already short on time in Dunedin (and I didn't even get to see the castle!) this afternoon/evening was a complete waste of time in my eyes.
@Cadbury World!
Elves making Cream Eggs. This is how it really works in the factory! :P
Even the floors had chocolate in them, nom nom nom
A chocolate mixing machine
A LOT of crunchy bars
The purple silo is where the chocolate fall is located
My chocolate swag xD
The Dunedin Railway Station
View on our "trip"
I ended up throwing these shoes out...
July 15: The previous day I had made a quick stop at the i-site for information on interesting sights in the city and I picked up a brochure with 2 heritage walks. I started out early as I could do this by myself and wasn't dependant on openings hours or something like that. Doing the two walks combined took me about 2 hours in total and it was really nice. I saw some great old buildings, churches and statues located in Dunedin and read a bit about their origins and such.
By the time I was finished it was 10am and everything was open so I first made a stop at the Art Gallery, which was surprisingly quite awesome. I didn't have very high expectations but they had some contemporary art I really liked. The "I Was Russia" exhibit was odd though and consisted of amongst others 3 people in sexual positions with the heads of the trio from Harry Potter pasted on top of it and in another display the same with people like Bush and Bin Laden; not something you expect in an art gallery.
As I walked through the city I saw some people dressed up (three people were awesome, they were all yellow and looked like The Simpsons!) and I asked someone what was going on. Apparently the universities were almost starting up again and the student were doing something like a Cookathon, which meant dressing up and drinking all day at Cook's Tavern. It was before noon and people were already swaying drunk over the streets...
Anyway, my next stop was The Regent Theatre as there would be a Madagascar musical! I was fortunate enough to be in Dunedin during the annual chocolate festival and this was a part of it. Unfortunately I would leave the city before the main event: the giant jaffa race. It basically means that people buy numbered lottery tickets that correspond to numbers on 30,000 jaffas (orange flavoured chocolate balls). Then they'll roll those jaffas down Baldwin Street (steepest street in the world) and the first jaffa down is the winner. Sounds pretty cool yeah? Anyway, didn't get to see that. The Madagascar show was short but nice (and only 3 bucks so really not a waste of money anyway). And out of all the people I could sit next to in the theatre I happened to have sat down next to next to a Belgian woman who had immigrated to New Zealand only a year earlier. I had a nice time chatting to her and her daughter; they obviously enjoyed having someone to talk to in Dutch :)
After the musical I rushed back to the hostel yet again because the guy promised to take me to the castle today (as yesterday had been such a disaster) and he forgot again!! Thankfully the other person who works there was much better organised and knowing what a hassle it had been for me already he offered to drive me there so I made it finally! I had a really great time wandering through the gardens there, but because we left a lot later (waiting for the other guy again first) I missed out on tickets for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that night so this was also the first time since many HP releases I didn't see it on opening night :(
The evening turned unexpectedly quite exciting though. When I was in my room suddenly the bunk beds started shaking slightly and there was a rumbling sound outside like there were fireworks in the distance. At first I thought a truck was driving through the alley but the sounds and movements held on for quite a while, first becoming a little heavier before dying out and I quickly found out through Twitter that it had been an earth quake! (the first one I felt in my life, hence the excitement :P) The reason I only felt it slightly was because it was 300km away from Dunedin, but it was a pretty heavy earthquake, generating tsunamis that caused alerts for both New Zealand and Australia coasts for a while during the night.
Entry to Chinese Gardens (unfortunately didn't have time to go inside)
IDEK!
xD
MADAGASCAR!
Larnach Castle
Pretty view from the gardens
Stuff in the gardens reminded me of Alice in Wonderland
Chickens in the bushes (they're real)! Like I said, idek lol
July 16: I still had a few hours this morning to do some touristy things in Dunedin so I got up early again and ventured over to Baldwin Street (the steepest street in the world). It took me about an hour to walk there and then another 15 minutes or so to get to the top (it's really steep, omg!). When I was sitting on the bench at the top of the street, catching my breath, a family came walking up and we had a nice chat while we were all resting. They were lovely and offered to take me to another look-out (as they were going there themselves) but as I didn't have much time left in the city and I was determined to go to the museum I had to decline. Instead I made my way back to the city as soon as possible (though I did take a brief moment to pick up a certificate - saying I walked Baldwin Street - at the tourist shop at the bottom of the street) and spent my last two hours in Dunedin in the museum (which was awesome, but not as awesome as Te Papa in Wellington).
I found Building 26 O_O
Yes, it is as steep as it looks
xD
Made me think of the foot from Lost
"Run for the hills you broken fish creature"
This penguin made me lol because it looks like he's wearing a wig
Not properly visible on this picture but on the floor they showed a moving projection of ants running around and collecting honey to bring to their nest in the opposite side of the floor
More pictures can be found HERE.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 12:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 02:08 am (UTC)Did you ever do a Cookthon? :P
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 06:20 am (UTC)No, I can't say I ever did! Although I didn't go to Otago university!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 02:32 pm (UTC)Lovely pics. Even though you fell in the mud & there were a lot of downsides to the tour, you got some of the nicest pictures :D
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 02:08 am (UTC)I typed this up straight afterwards and was still quite cranky, can you tell? :P
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 02:54 pm (UTC)I was thinking about you when I heard about the earthquake - I figured you would post about it, and glad you did!
Penguins = Cute (even if there's only one)
And I love the Alice in Wonderland type gardens!!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 02:10 am (UTC)You heard about the earthquake in Canada? Woah! It was only felt in parts of NZ for as far as I know though -- probably just the South Island? I thought it was pretty neat, until those tsunami warnings popped up online o.O (but it all ended well)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 10:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 10:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 11:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 04:49 pm (UTC)I love the Alice in Wonderland!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 02:10 am (UTC)Me too! It was unexpected as well and not until i saw the cat did it click with me lol
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 06:57 pm (UTC)is beautiful.
Chocolate festival
was that your first earthquake?
aww wig penguin
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 02:11 am (UTC)It was the first earthquake I felt is what I should say. Apparently there were earthquakes in the Northern Territory when I was there but they were so small I didn't realise it :)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 02:46 am (UTC)That tour guy sounds irritating though!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 04:01 am (UTC)He was, ugh >.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 04:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 10:20 am (UTC)Cool now I know to visit the chocolate factory only in christams though I guess it would be very busy then.
because I was already short on time in Dunedin (and I didn't even get to see the castle!) this afternoon/evening was a complete waste of time in my eyes.
OH THIS SUCKS :(
Unfortunately I would leave the city before the main event: the giant jaffa race.
I saw that on the news and thought you might have seen it! Sucks that you didn't get to :(
Madagascar musical wheeeee
LOL ok clearly Dunedin is awesome - with building 26 and LOST foot lol
what does idek mean?
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 10:23 am (UTC)well - I've never been to Baldwin Street but hey since I'm a lazy person what I'd do is walk up and down once a day and then I don't have to go to the gym! Sounds like a plan if I ever end up living in Dunedin.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 10:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 10:46 am (UTC)The jaffa race was on the news?!?!? Did it look as awesome as it sounds?
Clearly!
idek = I don't even know (and IDK = I don't know)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 11:00 am (UTC)Yes it looked pretty damn awesome and fun and omg SOMANY people on the sidelines and so many jaffas...which made me wonder where did they all end up? I couldn't see clearly if they had something at the end of the hill to collect all the jaffas...
thanks! I knew idk but was like why is that 'e' there!? lol
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 06:20 pm (UTC)Now, the question is, why is it called "Blue Penguin".
no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 08:25 am (UTC)