Today I was looking forward to seeing a friend I made during a Transatlantic crossing two years ago. So often we meet people and promise to keep in touch but never do. Now with Facebook it is so much easier to maintain some form of communication. So we coordinate a time and place and I made sure I could find the place.
But first we woke up to a very strange port. It actually looked like a lumber mill. Poles and poles of wood by the acre.
We caught a shuttle to Dunedin from the Port which was about a 20 minute drive. When we arrived in Dunedin we had about an hour before we were to meet up with Dale. Of course, we went to a local coffee shop. And walked around the area.
The center of town is an octagon shape. We met Dale in front of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The first place she took us to was the world’s steepest street.
Dale took us to a lovely old cemetery that overlooked the ocean. There was a tree that was perhaps 500 years old at the entry.
As part of our tour she took us to the botanical gardens. The rhododendrons were in bloom and they were twice the size of any I’ve seen back home.
Dale took us to the campus of Otago University. This is where she went to school. It was interesting to see the old and the new architecture.
Our last stop before lunch was the old railroad station. It is still used for train tours. The main lobby has beautiful mosaic tiling and stained glass windows. It also houses an art gallery.
We had a wonderful lunch at a Thai restaurant and spent a bit of time chatting. It was great to see Dale and I hope our paths cross again in the future.
As we walked back to the Octagon we saw a bit of street art.
Before we returned to the ship by shuttle we visited two churches. St. Paul’s Cathedral was located on the Octagon. Some young man was playing the organ while we were in the church.
The second church we visited was the First Church of Otago. A fragrant rose garden adorned the outside of the building.
From our balcony, we were serenaded by bagpipers as we set sail.
At dinner tonight our waiter Manuel showed us a balancing trick.
Another wonderful day!
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