46 degrees South

 St. Joseph's (Catholic)

 St. Paul's (Anglican)

Welcome to Dunedin, also known as the Edinburgh of the south.  Liz and I had really been looking forward to this city for a number of reasons and had the good luck to stay a few days.  Firstly, the city is very Scottish, which is plus for us as we are both Scots at heart and by heritage.  The whole town felt very old world with its architecture and love of stone buildings; the resemblance to Edinburgh made it special for me as I used to live there and hold it close.  The churches here were amazingly beautiful and we visited and photographed several in architectural styles ranging from Flemish to gothic.  The Catholic cathedral was my favorite, and I made a point to stop in, look around and pray.  The interior of the Anglican cathedral was light and classic, while its apse had a modern design.  My love of stained glass aside, the atmosphere was also dominated by a huge pipe organ which turned out to be the largest in the southern hemisphere with four separate registers and over 3,000 pipes.  Imagine cleaning or repairing that!  Beyond the churches and stone everything, we took a long walk to find the botanical gardens, which are reputed to be among the best in the world.   

After wandering through more varieties of Rhododendrons than I knew existed, we arrived at a beautifully manicured pond with terraces overlooking the city, well laid out and signed rose garden (appeals to my Rose City nature) and an exquisite glass house.  An Arabica Coffee tree, Air Plants, Orchids and exotic blooms complemented a succulent room with bizarre cacti, many in flower, and absolutely massive aloe plants with aggressive looking spikes.  I’m new to the plant-loving thing, but this place was a real treat; we definitely felt the long walk was justified.  Our wanderings were also rewarded with an excellent art gallery containing a Monet alongside a Dutch painting from the 1300’s, and a pipe band accompanying a university graduation ceremony.  I have mentioned that the great part about Magic is that they make sure they hit all the interesting stops along the way, and our trip out of Dunedin was no exception, where we stopped long enough for a jaunt up the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street.  Officially logged in the Guinness Book of World Records with a slope of 1:2.862, it makes for some interesting games with perspective.  After our short but trying walk, we were greeted back at the bus by one of its regular visitors who likes to come on board at this stop and say hi: a cat.  Apparently he likes to jump along the seat backs.  No word yet on whether he has made it full circle around the South Island, but he seems eager.