Many of you know that we have been doing house exchanges for almost four years. Our first exchange was an asynchronous exchange with a couple from Dunedin. They stayed at our house for a week while we went to Marianne's mother's house in New Jersey almost four years ago. Finally we arrived in NZ to be their guests in Dunedin for three nights. Since we had already had a couple of dinners around our round table at home, it was like visiting old friends when we turned up.
The next day we drove downtown to look around and to take a train trip in the afternoon which is the subject of a separate blog.
We parked behind the magnificent and deservedly famous train station which was opened in 1906.
The train we would take later in the day.
This ticket windows.
Platforms.
Minton tiles for the floor.
The front entrance to the station.
Another building across the street built in much the same style.
Dunedin was obviously a very wealthy city. It used to be the financial capital of NZ but that role has now moved to Auckland,
If you look at the URL for my blog you can see why I should have gone in to have a beer.
Town Hall.
Classy sign!
The Dunedin Cathedral.
The cathedral is unusual in that the main part of the building was built much earlier than the chancel which was finished in 1971. The chancel is of a much more modern design and seems quite odd next to the more traditional design.
To be honest, I felt quite uncomfortable while in the building. I could not ignore memories of the destruction of the Christchurch Cathedral in the earthquake.
We had lunch and I ordered a cappuccino which came nicely decorated.
I had a bacon butty for lunch at the cafe, not at this cart. I'm sure it would have been just as good here by the side of the street.
There are two major attractions near the station. One is the Chinese Garden which are supposedly very good. Since we were booked to take a train trip we did not have time to visit.
The other attraction is the Toitu Museum (Otago Settler's Museum). This is the transport wing which at one time housed the bus services of the New Zealand Railways.
Interesting seat.
This part of the museum houses displays of discontinued technology including an old ICT 1301 computer that was used in the local Cadbury Chocolate factory. This model predates my early years in computers. I worked on the next generation ICL 1904 computers which were more powerful but absolutely primitive compared to today's cell phone.
IBM disk platters.
Dunedin had trolley buses and this one was famous for its paint job.
There are quite a few old cars and motor cycles.
Your hero on a penny farthing.
Petrol bowser.
Dunedin also had a cable car system to cope with the steep hills. When it closed in 1957 only the San Francisco system was left in operation.
This desk where you could fill in your withdrawal or deposit slips came from the Bank of New Zealand building in Dunedin.
Unusual room called the Smith Portrait Gallery that has old photographic portraits lining the walls.
Old aerial view of Dunedin.
Restored Art Deco waiting room and ticket counter for the bus station.
A display wall filled with familiar objects from the 50's and 60's. It filled me with nostalgia to look at these objects from my youth. Many of the objects were also sold in Australia at the time.
This was a fascinating museum. It was so intriguing to see familiar objects from when I was much younger. I must be getting old.
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