Port Chalmers, Dunedin and the Wop Wops

Friday, January 06, 2023
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Today was Day 5 on the cruise. We were all very happy to get off the ship today. Except for Tim who very much wanted to get off the ship but stayed behind due to his bad back which has unfortunately been giving him grief again. 
Whilst cruises offer stops at various destinations, they tend to be a bit limited (ports often in inconvenient locations and limited time actually in Port), hence we have all shared the planning of our port stops to ensure that we maximize our time and see as much as we possibly can. This particular stop was organized by Rach and she organized a private tour.
The ship arrived in the port town of Port Chalmers which is a very small town. The views from the ship were hence quite industrial in nature. The Port area is quite ugly (apparently this was where the first refrigerated container left). Home to about 3000 people as it is a working port, but for tourists there is not much to do. Hence, most travellers will head to Dunedin.
Known as the Wildlife Capital of New Zealand, Dunedin prides itself on its beautiful built heritage, stunning scenery, and unique biodiversity. Surrounded by dramatic hills and at the foot of a long, picturesque harbour, Dunedin is one of the best-preserved Victorian and Edwardian cities in the Southern Hemisphere.
Our first stop was at the lookout over Port Chalmers which overlooked the ship. It was a lovely view.
We stopped in Dunedin at the steepest street in the world. A quick history lesson… The landscape of the 1,150-foot long street came about through a planning error. While laying out the city, city planners mapped out the streets with no regard to topography.
Then, in 1985, journalist and broadcaster, Jim Mora, discovered Baldwin Street as the steepest street and presented it to Guinness World Book. By April 1987, Baldwin Street did beat two streets in San Francisco and grabbed the title The Steepest Street in the World. We walked up this street (Jake ran, I went about halfway as to get the famous shot of Number 42).
Our next stop was the Botanic Gardens which we walked through from top to bottom. Lots of beautiful gardens, and birds. We drove through the university accommodation area which is a very derelict - they have couch parties here - which are burned at the end of the night. Each property has a different name eg Jungle. 
We then stopped at the Railway Station. The booking hall features a mosaic floor of almost 750,000 Minton tiles. A frieze of Royal Doulton porcelain runs around the balcony above it from which the floor's design, featuring a locomotive and related symbols, can be clearly seen. The main platform is the country's longest, extending for about 500 metres. Whilst a part of the exterior was covered in scaffolding, the building is spectacular.
We then drove along Portobello Road (along the peninsula) which was very scenic to get to our lunch destination - the Portobello Pub. Our guide also referred to this area as the Wop Wops (the back of beyond!). We tried some NZ beer and the famous Blue Cod which is a highly prized eating fishendemic to the coastal waters of New Zealand. With a delicate salty-sweet flavour and unique light texture, Blue Cod is a wild-caught delicacy — particularly amongst South Islanders, where the species is most prevalent. There is also no minimum drinking age in NZ - whilst people under 18 cannot purchase alcohol, they are allowed to drink alcohol with a parent or guardian. So Jake had his first beer at the pub!
We then went to the Natures Wonders tour. This is a unique wildlife tour in an Argo vehicle where we saw blue penguins and New Zealand fur seals up close. The blue penguins were nesting and we saw them literally only centimeters away ( we could not take photographs) and the seals had many babies - omg these were so cute!). The tour was interesting and a lot of fun! But very rough and very dusty! It took my eyes a while to recover. 
After a scenic drive back to Dunedin after the Peninsular (the Wop-Wops) we were heading back to the dock at Port Chalmers and then hit traffic. This turned out to be due to a car accident where the driver had hit a power pole. We were not too concerned as we knew that there were shore tour buses behind us and we knew the ship would wait for them. After a while we were instructed to turn around and the guide knew a long way round to get us to the dock (the shore bus tours could not do this and had to wait for the road to reopen). We made it back to the ship with about 20 minutes to spare - what an adventure! And the shore tour buses starting arriving a bit after the scheduled departure so we were late leaving, but only by about 30 minutes.
Our guide had told us where the albatross colony was and where to look (and what to look out for) as the ship sailed out of the Port (with the peninsula on the starboard side)- and we did see a couple of albatrosses. No one else near us seemed to know about this, so it was an excellent tip. Their wingspan is huge! 
We had an evening of trivia, another 3 course meal, more drinks and music before bed.

Comments

Joan Therese Olsen
2023-01-08

What a beautiful place. Maybe i will go one day.

2025-02-10

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