Dunners… Dunedin… Otago

Such hip folk Dunedin has! I sat in a coffee shop sipping on a long black enjoying the people watching that the Octagon area had to offer, before I decided to set off for the Otago Museum on Great King Street. The Otago Museum was incredibly well done. There was a bone and taxidermy section from the original museum built at the turn of the 19^th century. Obviously I enjoyed it immensely!

 

Up the museum stairwells, artifacts belonging to Sir Edmund Hillary, famous New Zealand mountaineer. He was the first to summit Mt. Everest and founded a trust that created schools in the Himalayan region. His mug that was utilized during his first summit was on display along with his final passport.

There was also a section on Maori history where the most bizarre séance-y thing was commencing. It was some sort of exchange between Chinese transplants in Dunedin and the local New Zealanders; upon further research I discovered that the Chinese have a long history in the Otago region as many came during the gold rush in the 1860s.

 

There was a history of the landscape, both land and sea, going back to the time of the dinosaurs. There were some moa fossils and reconstructions, both the giant moa [as its name indicates, it was HUGE] and the heavy-footed moa [which had extremely thick and sturdy leg bones]. A fully articulated leopard seal was on display next to its “taxidermied” pelt. Apparently she had died due to pneumonia, which was further exacerbated by her infected teeth that prevented her from feeding and receiving proper nutrition.  In total, I spent about three hours in the museum.

Then I toured around the University of Otago, making a quick detour to the Medical School. Apparently, family members were discussing this possibility, but I do not think I will be making a grand move to Dunedin for medical school, although I very much enjoyed the area. The idea of putting of school another year and taking another exam [the UMAT] simply does not appeal to me!

I decided to finish off my day with a Speight Brewery tour. A charming old Kiwi gentleman led the tour where we were able to see the original equipment that brewed Speight’s beer from the late 1800s all the way until 2013. Apparently the wife of the founder, James Speight, was a member of the temperance movement in Otago. Coincidence? He died in his 50s due to, yup you guessed it, sclerosis of the liver. He obviously enjoyed his product a little too much. Also, everyone seemed to find the smell of hops immensely displeasing, whereas I quite enjoyed it. Not that I want to wear it as a perfume or anything. Thankfully the tour ended with a tasting, and my dear old Kiwi chap was quite generous with the pourings! Although, he was quite emphatic about his preference for light beers over dark beers, and in mass quantities! He seemed quite tickled that such a young lady enjoyed her dark beer so much!

Then, the hunger set in, so I wandered back into the Octagon and a sign in the distance caught my attention, “Best Café”. Now, I had heard that this place had legendary fish and chips, so I decided it was a sign that I was meant to have some blue codfish with some delightfully salty chips. A fine way to finish of my Dunedin Day!