A quiet Day 17, then Day 18 - Invercargill to Dunedin

Thursday 21 Apr

Thursday was a bit of a non-event, I was meant to go to Stewart Island, but the airport got closed by fog for over an hour, and by the time it lifted, Stewart Is was closed ditto. They expected it all to clear by 10 am-ish, but there would not be time for the bus trip, only the hotel, gift shops & beach. I decided that was not worth the price, even with the bus fare taken off, so returned to the hotel on the shuttle with about nine others. 

Lloyd appeared please to see me, so we had an early lunch then headed for the library. I did a bit of checking on Electoral Rolls to see if I could find an address for great-grandfather George Brunt when he was living in Dunedin, our next stop. This wouls have been roughly between 1913 & 1918, as far as I know from family stories, but unfortunately we do not appear to have had an election during that time. Afterwards we had a walk, then returned to the hotel for a quiet read.


Friday 22 Apr.

Happy Birthday Dad!


Up with the birds and a quick breakfast and on our way to Dunedin. The weather was clearing nicely and we had quite a pleasant day for our trip. Five miles out of Invercargill Anne asked if I had dropped the room keys off. OOOPS!! Ellen is assembling quite a collection which she posts back as more accumulate.

Lovely pastoral country, some pretty little towns. We had a comfort stop at Gore just after 9 am, and tiem for a 20 minute walk, but nothing was open.

Gore - Country Music Capital of NZ

Morning tea was in Balclutha an hour later where we found a lovely cafe serving fresh hot date scones so we broke our 'no morning tea' rule and shared one (and also picked up our lunch, as we knew time would be short when we reached Dunedin).

We reached the City by mid-day, and our rooms were not ready. Most hotels we have been to make a real effort to have them done by the time we arrive, but we dipped out here. Anne and I walked down to the Railway Station and sat in the gardens and ate our sammies, then took a wander through the very historically famous station, and upstairs to the Dunedin Art Society. Some lovely paintings, it would have been great to have a bit more time. 

Dunedin Railway Station

We retraced our steps to rejoin the coach at 1.30, and were off on a guided tour of Dunedin lead by an 87 year old identity, Jack Allpress, who has been running these tours for years. Very interesting, very scenic and great value. He took us all over the town, giving an equal mix of history and anecdotes. It turns out he went to school with one of our group, and with the brother of another member, so he was making remarks about them along the way, and we were all in fits of laughter.

Presbyterian Church with a sense of humour - The Maker's Place - in Placemaker's colours 

Back to the hotel and into our rooms, with time for a short rest before dinner. This was brought forward to 6 pm (from the normal 6.30) as a number of our party had organised tickets to watch the local rugby team play at the new Stadium, and needed to get away by 7pm. We heard the next morning they had a terrific time.