Dunedin, New Zealand

Radiance of the Seas-Day 5, Dunedin, New Zealand, March 23, 2014

We got up quite early knowing that many people will be getting off the ship early. Breakfast at the Windjammer was very crowded but we managed to get a table and shared it with two ladies from Australia.

We got off the ship at 8:30am. They did check for food before getting off the ship, mainly for fruits and not as posted on "Cruise Compass" that says 'only sealed and unopened bottles of drinking water are permitted to leave the ship'.

This port runs the most expensive shuttles to town, $20 per person, roundtrip. Yes, it's a little distance between Port Chalmers and Dunedin, but for a 20-minute ride in a bus?!

piles of logs at the port

Drop-off point (the shelters under the trees) at the Octagon. Following the Official Guide and Map of Dunedin, we walked towards the Botanic Garden on George Street. Our goal was to reach Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. That was a big mistake on our part. My advice, take the bus!

This caught our eyes!

It was very quiet on a Sunday morning.

Look what we found! A few in our group ended up having lunch here that day.

A beautiful church, yes, a Presbyterian Church.

After we went pass the church, the street gently turned a little uphill. Not knowing how far we still had to walk, I suggested that maybe it's not a good idea to have FIL continue walking with us. So the three of them decided to wait at the church while we went to look for Baldwin Street. Little did we know that we had a LONG walk ahead of us. After stopping and asking for directions a couple of times we finally got closer to Baldwin Street which was not on the map.

Dumplings House

We were told that Baldwin Street is near a school, so this must be the school!

Yes, finally arrived!

But..

Christian walked all the way up and around the area. I was too tired to go any further. As of BIL, he was no where to be found when I turned around.

Many tour buses stopped and let tourists take pictures.

I was worried sick not knowing what had happened to BIL. We waited and waited and finally decided that we should walk back to meet the rest of the group. Later on we found out that BIL thought that we were going to climb up the steep hill. He figured that he didn't want to hike up, instead he just turned around and walked back to the church himself. What a relief it was to know that he was OK.

Back at the church

For lunch, Christian and I wanted to try out the McDonald's here because we noticed that they serve meat pies when we went past there in the morning. The rest of our group went to the Chopsticks 101 restaurant shown above.

To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed. The pie crust was good but the filling was too saucy for my taste and it did not have enough meat inside.

A little busier on George Street

Outside of Chopsticks 101

Then we walked down to Cumberland Street where Cadbury World is. We wanted to tour the place but there were so many people there that the next available tour was at 2:30, which would be too late for us.

The line to purchase chocolate was half hour long, so we gave up and left the place empty handed. I suppose it would be best to come here first in the morning.

Next stop, the Dunedin Railway Station

the most photographed train station

Cadbury World across from the station

This Renaissance-style building is just beautiful...

both outside...

...and inside.

tiles on the floor

Train to the gorge just came back.

The Chinese restaurant that one of the crew members told us about on Stuart Street.

First Church (Presbyterian)

Back at the Octagon (Civic Center) where St. Paul's Cathedral (Anglican) stood.

From the front steps of the Cathedral looking down towards the shuttles drop-off.

Back to the shuttle stop taking our bus ride back to the ship.

Passport and Sea Pass check was done on the bus when we reached the port.

You should know what this is by now--our daily dose of escargot.

For some reason, many passengers did not show up for dinner that evening. Manuel was able to demonstrate his napkin folding skills when he was done serving dinner. Such a nice guy!

We were definitely tired after the long walk today.