 Today we want to cover some of the attractions around and in Dunedin. We stayed overnight at the Penguins Place but had no time to visit the them. As substition we got a wounderful view of the peninsula. |  First destination was Larnach Castle, the only of its kind in NZ. It's owned privately, but park and house are opened to the public. |
 The garden/park is small but beautifull and provides lovely objects. |
 Outer rim of the house is a veranda, a nice place to sit and enjoy the sun even at windy or cold days. |
 The former living space of the castle is featured by detailed mosaics on the floor and ... |
 ... woodden ceilings. Artwork at the ceiling can be seen in many forms, ... |
 ... nonetheless they are not standard everywhere and differ greatly in size and type. |
 The rooms as whole are very elegant and rich in treasurous furniture. |
 You may see this in the library and ... |
 ... the dining room as examples. |
 Nice pieces of detail can be found all around. Here the batching tub ... |
 ... and the huge bed with the pan used with hot ash to warm your cold linen before you go to bed. |
 We left the Otago pensinsula on the Highcliff road which gave us some nice overviews. Next destination was the Olveston, Dunedin's historic home. |
 The house was inhabited until 1966 when the last daughter of the creator David Theomin died. It is preserved in a state that offers an intimate glimpse of the lifestyle the family has lived at the turn of the last century. |
 Here we can enjoy a view from the dining room through ornate hand-painted glass windows to the loggia. |
 Before we went on our big trip that day, we payed a view to the 'steepest street of the world'. |
 New messures have revealed that the gradient is not over 2.8 (35°) but about 1.7 (19°). So The Guinness Book of Records and the Lonely Planet must be rewritten. :) |
 Our last and final trip this day was with the Taieri Gorge Railway on the scenic route from Queenstown to Middlemarch and back. |
 You drive along a riverbed which subsequently digs deeper in the rock as you raise higher on the track. |
 Before reaching the top the train passes a douzen bridges, from small ones over creeks to big ones covering a whole valley. |
 On the way up the train stops at points of interest or for good views and photographs. |
 This is the only bridge made from stone in contrast to the former ones. Keep in mind that this track was built in the time of pickle and shovel. |
 Some impression of the interior of the train. |
 A very clever feature of the seats is, that you can use them in either direction of the train - always pointing forward! |
 The railway station in Dunedin is a really good example of the architecture present in the city. |
 Stone buildings from the Victorian era with rich interiors give evidence that Dunedin was financial and cultural centre of NZ in the days of the gold rush. |
 In todays time Dunedin is one of the cities which presents itself as very continential in terms of architecture. But it has its own original mix from different styles. |
 Before we left for Gore in the upper Catlins we had a walk in the city center and discovered a piece of real Dunedin culture: a traditional scottish music group played at the main square. I assume this was for the celebration of the Waitangi Treaty from 1840, which is the basic for todays society of Pakeha (european descendants) and Maori. |