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forests and follies
Published in the July-September 2010 issue.

Lee Mylne sets out from Dunedin to explore the Otago coastline and wine region, with plenty of heritage and wildlife along the way.

From schoolgirls in long tartan skirts to tourists toiling up what is reputedly the world’s steepest street, from ‘lesbian’ albatrosses making world headlines to an annual nude rugby match, Dunedin has its own particular style, giving an edge to what might at first glance appear to be a fairly conservative place.

As one of New Zealand’s most historic cities, established by Scottish settlers in 1848, it would be easy to look at its elegant buildings, formal gardens, galleries and museums and not see beyond them to the many other interesting aspects of the Otago region.



But an early hint that this is a place that does things differently and doesn’t always conform is the fact that Dunedin’s ‘town square’ is not in fact a square, but an octagon. The Octagon is the city’s heart, where you’ll find restaurants, shops and the wonderful Dunedin Public Art Gallery. A short walk away is one of the city’s landmarks, the Dunedin Railway Station. The station, which opened in 1906, is still operational – but is best known for its grand style and architectural detail.

Another favourite landmark for visitors and locals alike is Larnach Castle. Built and decorated over 15 years in the 1870s and 1880s by William Larnach, an Australian banker of Scottish descent who came to Dunedin after the gold rush, the castle has been home to three generations of the Barker family since 1967. A tour of the castle reveals sordid stories of Larnach’s love life, hints of mystery and the possibility of a ghost. You can stay at Larnach Lodge. The Barkers restored the once-neglected castle and its 14 hectare garden, the latter a labour of love created by Margaret Barker that has been designated a Garden of International Significance by the New Zealand Gardens Trust.

To learn more about the history of the region, spend time at the Otago Museum. The Tangata Whenua gallery, which focuses on Maori history, is dominated by a huge war canoe or waka made in 1840 in the Whanganui River area for a chief. Kids also enjoy this great museum, where you can meet the Shag Point Plesiosaur, New Zealand’s largest fossil, estimated to be around 70 million years old. The permanent exhibition, Southern Land, Southern People, will give you a good understanding of how this city and its surrounds were shaped by nature and by man. 



The Otago Settlers Museum is the best place to learn about those who settled in Dunedin from early Maori to Chinese gold miners and its Scottish founders. Nearby is the new Dunedin Chinese Garden, a tribute to the contribution to the city made by the Chinese who came to Otago during the 1860s gold rush and stayed.

A popular tourist challenge is to test your stamina by taking the trek up the street that holds the Guinness Book of Records title of World’s Steepest Street. Baldwin Street runs up the northern side of Signal Hill at an average slope of 19 degrees.  

Head out of the city to reach Port Chalmers, a historic settlement on the western side of the Otago Peninsula. This area began life as a trading port for sealers and whalers before going on to be Australasia’s third-largest port after the gold rush. Today, it is a container and fishing port also used by cruise ships and local boaties.



Port Chalmers has several fine bluestone buildings, including the former post office which now houses the Regional Maritime Museum, where you can learn about the characters who shaped the town. Several Antarctic explorers also set out from here including Robert Scott, who left for the South Pole in 1910. A memorial to Scott and his team is set high on a hill overlooking the port.

Within 35 kilometres of Dunedin’s city heart there are several extraordinary wildlife experiences to be had. To find out why so many kinds of wildlife make the Otago Peninsula their home, visit the University of Otago’s New Zealand Marine Studies Centre and Aquarium, about 30 minutes’ drive from Dunedin. Guided tours reveal the secrets of the area’s unique oceanography, which makes it the harbour of choice for rare yellow-eyed penguins, albatross and sea lions. In the centre’s marine teaching laboratory, you can look at local marine life in rockpools and taste seaweed fresh from the ocean. Try the dried kelp chips: salty and delicious. In the aquarium, admire elegant seahorses and ‘touch’ tanks with starfish.

Seals and little blue penguins nest along the coast near the Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head, just 33 kilometres from Dunedin. But the real stars are the Royal albatrosses. Taiaroa Head claims the world’s only mainland colony: the others are all on remote islands. The first albatross chick flew from the colony in 1938 and this nature reserve now has a population of about 140 birds. It has recently gained world-wide publicity for its ‘lesbian’ pair: two female albatrosses who have successfully hatched a chick together. It is one of 17 to hatch at the colony this year, making 2010 the first in 16 years that the colony’s breeding program has achieved a 100 per cent success rate.



December and March are the best months to visit, if you want to be treated to the spectacular sight of adult albatrosses with wingspans of up to three metres in flight. At other times, you might be lucky to see fluffy white chicks nestled in the tussock grass below the viewing centre.

In August or September, nearly a year after their arrival at Taiaroa Head, the parents will leave the colony to spend a year at sea before returning to breed again. At about the same time, the chicks will begin to test their wings and eventually, take off with the aid of a strong wind. Each young albatross will spend the next three to six years at sea before many of them return to this unique headland.

Daily tours also run from Dunedin to a private conservation area on the eastern side of the peninsula where rare yellow-eyed penguins come up the beach to nest in the ‘forest’ grasses beyond the sand dunes. To do so, they run the gauntlet of a colony of very large and playful – but dangerous – New Zealand sea lions, the rarest of the world’s five species of sea lion. 

Reached by walking across farmland at Cape Saunders, on the peninsula’s most easterly tip, the beach is deserted but for our small group and the wildlife. It is breathtakingly beautiful. 

New Zealand sea lions are making a comeback after being almost hunted to extinction. 

Sea lions are gregarious animals: we watch delightedly from a ‘hide’ in the sand dunes as a number of adult males – weighing up to 400 kilograms each – frolic on the beach.

“Never turn your back on a sea lion – and don’t get between them and the sea,” warns our guide. It’s advice we heed.

There are less than 6,000 yellow-eyed penguins in the wild and they live only in New Zealand. In recent years, conservation efforts in restoring habitat have seen the penguin population here grow from 80 to around 200. 

Another new attraction for nature-lovers is Orokonui Ecosanctuary, which opened last September after years of planning. Orokonui is a 307-hectare native forest and wildlife sanctuary that is home to rare species of native birds and reptiles. Behind a predator-proof fence, you can take a guided walking tour and meet keas, fantails, New Zealand kingfishers, bellbirds and more. And it’s just 20 minutes from the city centre.

With even a short time in Otago, it’s easy to see why the locals are fond of quoting naturalist David Bellamy, who described the Otago Peninsula as “the finest example of eco-tourism in the world”. • 

Photography by Lee Mylne and Tourism Dunedin.


TRAVEL FACTS

getting there
  • Air New Zealand flies direct to Dunedin from Brisbane or from other Australian ports via Christchurch, Auckland or Wellington. Phone 13 2476 or visit www.airnewzealand.com.au
  • Pacific Blue flies direct to Dunedin from Brisbane, with connections from other Australian cities. Phone 1316 45 or visit 
www.flypacificblue.com
  • Qantas, phone 13 13 13 or visit 
www.qantas.com.au
  • Jetstar, phone 131 538 or visit 
www.jetstar.com

getting around
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