WEIRD AND WONDERFUL DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Dunedin is New Zealand’s oldest city and is home to the nation’s first university, the world’s steepest street and the only two castles in the country. Hang on, there’s more, lots more.

It has some of the finest Victorian architecture in the Southern Hemisphere, the only operational gas works museum outside England, the only fully restored Victorian disappearing gun, and the top photographed building in New Zealand. The city has recently opened the most advanced roofed stadium in the world. That’s just for starters!

Dunedin is also famous as home to the only mainland breeding ground for the magnificent royal albatross. To keep the mix interesting, the Nude Blacks are a Dunedin based rugby team who play a match in the nude every time the All Blacks have a game in the city. This eye catching team has become darlings of the international media and feature on the pages of newspapers around the world. I must not forget to mention the Selwyn Ballet. I’ll tell you about them shortly.

Oh, I nearly forgot, this interesting little city also has one of only two authentic Chinese Scholar’s Garden outside China.

Dunedin was the largest and most powerful city in the country during the first half of the last century. This was the result of the Otago gold rush that poured millions of pounds into the city’s development. At that time, the world’s most advanced tramway system operated over the city’s hills. Sadly, it was removed in the 1950s. However, as I’ve already pointed out, Dunedin still has many wonderful attractions that were created during its heyday.

Dunedin Railway Station

The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide ranked the Dunedin Railway Station alongside the Coliseum and the Taj Mahal, as one of the ‘wonders of the world’. declaring it one of ‘The World’s 200 Must-See Places’ in 2006. The sheer size, grandiose style, and rich embellishments of this delightful building, have made it one of the most treasured buildings in New Zealand. It is also the most photographed building in the country. Built between 1904 and 1907, there are a staggering 750.000 Royal Dalton tiles on the foyer floor. The architect George Troup won the British Architect’s Award for this masterpiece of building design.

The University of Otago with 25,000 students, is the city’s largest industry. In fact, the city is known as the ‘Education City’ Some of the country’s oldest and most prestigious high schools are also located here. Otago Polytechnic is now producing some of the country’s top fashion designers.

The Selwyn Ballet is a cherished university tradition. This all male ballet is actually older than the New Zealand Ballet Company. The boys, dressed in tutus and badly applied make up, are  students at Selwyn College and over the years the ballet lads have danced many of the favourites from Swan Lake to Faust, all performed at the annual Capping Concert.

Speaking of old, Larnach Castle and Cargills Castle are the only two castles in the country.

Larnach Castle is one of New Zealand’s top tourist attractions. It’s a bit of a spooky place built high up on the Otago Peninsula. The ballroom is noted for the ghost of William Larnach’s daughter, Katie. He had it built as a birthday present for her but she died of pneumonia and was not able to enjoy the gift. William went on to shoot himself dead on the steps of Parliament a few years later. Anyway, Katie’s ghost is a real draw card for the thousands who visit the castle in the hope of meeting her. I’ve actually experienced her presence when I was there on a cold foggy night to make a TV programme on her ghost. Beat that!

On an elemental cliff top on the other side of the city, Cargill’s Castle is a romantic ruin. It also has a tragic history of death,  and also fire to make its history as fascinating as Larnach castle.

Standing beside the ruins, the vastness of the Pacific horizon is breathtaking. The wind creates a melancholy symphony as it plays through the gaping spaces in the walls that once housed the magnificent windows. The weather stained concrete on the tower is cracked and crumbling. The grand staircase has gone. The roof has gone. The clouds gather overhead. The wind freshens. The birds take to flight. Another storm is brewing. The macrocarpas moan as they push against each other. The ruins look hauntingly magnificent. This is a place of romantic melancholy. It whispers memories of triumphs and tragedies. There is a magic in the sadness here. The atmospheric ruin of Cargill’s Castle weaves its own special power, a power as unique as the ruin itself..

Now for something lighter, let me take you to a special street. A postman negotiates the 274 steps that help him climb the lower reaches of Baldwin Street, in the Guinness Book of Records as the steepest street in the world. The poor postie has still to face the really steep bit ahead of him.

Baldwyn Street, hosts a number of strange annual events including a  ‘jaffa throw’ (red candy balls) and the annual Gutbuster Race. The current record for charging down the steep gradient is a lightning 116.6 seconds.

The street was first created in 1877. The lower part was sealed in the 1950s with the middle part sealed 10 years later. Roughened concrete was laid on the upper surface in 1972. It was too steep for bitumen——it literally rolled off the incline in the summer heat.

I’m running out of space and haven’t even mentioned Tunnel Beach, remarkably cut through a cliff by a landowner back in the 19th century to allow his daughters access to a private beach. Tragically, one of them drowned at the beach. Today, the 76 steps that make up the tunnel are becoming a popular attraction for people interested in the weird and wonderful. Then there is the amazing butterfly house in the Otago Museum. There’s the oldest house in New Zealand built from fern trees and it is still being lived in! The oldest wooden buildings in New Zealand are not too far away either. Finally, Otago Peninsula was voted last year as one of the ‘top 10 cycle rides in the world’ by Lonely Planet. Whew! quite a lot for a little city at the bottom of New Zealand to offer the visitor.

Links to Dunedin book and more information:

Thanks to Ceidrik Heward for this wonderful Travel Blog