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Top Comments: Travelling Down Under Edition Part 5 - Dunedin, NZ (Photo Heavy)

by lotac

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday, Dec. 14, 2015 Monday, Dec. 14, 2015 at 7:09:05pm PST

My partner and I, and three other family members, were together on a Down Under vacation in early November. The story so far:

Part 1 included a tour of Sydney, Australia and nearby areas, ending with our cruise ship sailing away from Sydney Harbour.

Part 2 focussed on a ship-board attraction, blowing hot glass at sea.

Part 3 included a visit to a wildlife sanctuary, to see Tasmanian Devils and other fascinating animals from Down Under.

Part 4 was a drive-by sailing through the Sounds of New Zealand.

Tonight, we slide into the port of Dunedin, New Zealand.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

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TONIGHT’S FEATURE PRESENTATION: DUNEDIN, NZ

In the previous installment of this series, our cruise ship Celebrity Solstice left behind Dusky Sound, which we were not able to enter due to poor weather conditions. Winds had been up to 40 knots out at sea, and 80 knots within Dusky Sound itself, so it was too dangerous to navigate a big ship into the fjord. Overnight, the ship headed toward our next destination, Dunedin. We could feel the ship rocking gently side to side in the rough sea, well into the night.

This would be our first stop setting foot on New Zealand soil, since leaving the Australian state of Tasmania four days earlier. Naturally, we were required to clear NZ Immigration. This procedure actually took place on board the ship, while at sea, the day after leaving Tasmania. The ship had taken on NZ Immigration & Quarantine officials, who conducted the immigration process in the ship’s main dining room. To each cabin was delivered an “invitation” with a time to show up for inspection, with passports in hand. And in the daily activities planner also delivered to each cabin, a prominent notice:

New Zealand Immigration & Quarantine Inspection

All guests will have to pass a face to face New Zealand Immigration inspection. Please follow your individual letter sent to your stateroom for time, location, and specific details. Please note that this inspection is mandatory for all guests regardless of your nationality. We thank you for your cooperation.

We were asked if we had visited any farms or wildlife areas while in Australia, and what kind of shoes we had worn. New Zealand is very protective of its environment, and any biological matter that might be brought into the country, inadvertently or otherwise.

That took place three days before we even set foot on New Zealand territory.

The five of us who were travelling together had breakfast by the windows in the buffet area, as the ship slowly approached the pier at Port Chalmers. The harbour is somewhat narrow, with numerous sandbars visible in the water close by. Port Chalmers is actually the deep-water port of entry into Dunedin, and handles the region’s container traffic.

This would end up being another cool, drizzly spring day, but we carried on regardless.

New Zealand's three largest exports in terms of dollars brought into the economy are dairy, meat, and wood. With annual gross income around $5 billion, forestry represents about 3% of New Zealand’s GDP. Much of that is from a particular variety of pine that grows rapidly, and is mostly shipped to China.

Here, in the early morning hours right after docking, we can see stacks of logs ready to be shipped. A barricade made up of shipping containers separates passengers from the industrial part of the pier.

Port Chalmers (Dunedin) and wood ready for export

Apparently there’s no permanent infrastructure at this pier for passenger traffic. Looking down from our balcony on Deck 8, we could see an exit ramp being constructed from on-shore parts.

And when they finished adding canopies and so on (the ship brings these components along), passengers were able to disembark.

This ramp was actually steeper than it looks. A bit of a challenge getting wheelchair-bound passengers up and down.

One of the available excursions was a train ride heading away from the city. We didn’t do that one, opting instead for a bus tour into Dunedin.

DSC_2975a — Conveniently, the train stops just steps away from the ship.

As we worked our way through the line to exit the ship, more New Zealand officials were already on board, with sniffer dogs. The dogs worked the line, most likely searching for food items. NZ is very strict about carrying food off the ship and onto land. Even a cup of coffee or an opened bottle of water are forbidden; sealed bottles of water are OK though.

Shortly after our scheduled tour was underway, our bus stopped and unloaded us to look at this:

This is not just any street. This is, in fact, Baldwin Street, the world’s steepest street:

DSC_2988a — World’s Steepest Street. Don’t even think of exiting or turning.

If you thought that honor went to Lombard Street in San Francisco, you were mistaken. Our driver/tour guide explained that athletes have run up and down the length of that street in under two minutes. My knees hurt just thinking about that.

Several passengers took the opportunity to visit a coffee/convenience shop just half a block away from this site. My partner went in, and came back with this (among other things):

I’m here to tell you, they were delicious. Chomp, chomp, chomp.

In the light on-and-off rain, we next headed to the Dunedin Botanic Garden, established 1863. In my previous diary, I promised some color, in contrast to the almost monochrome appearance of Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound due to the murky weather conditions. The flowers did their best despite the absence of abundant sunshine on this day. (More color will appear later in this series).

I’ll just shut up for a moment and let the garden speak for itself.

Next, we stopped at what is said to be New Zealand’s most photographed building: The Dunedin Railway Station, opened in 1906. In its heyday, this station handled up to 100 trains daily.

Apparently it’s been debated over the years whether or not this building is beautiful. I’ll just say that it seems a little over-done for my taste. On the other hand, the station’s front yard is landscaped with some very beautiful lawns, hedges, ...

… and flower beds.

I do like to see and photograph patterns of lines, archways, etc., such as found near the front entranceway to the station.

On the business side of the terminal, of course there is a platform for trains.

Looking the opposite direction, we can see the low-hanging clouds contributing to the less than sparkling day.

This is the city. Dunedin, New Zealand. I carry a badge.

No, not really. But this is the city.

A rather wet day in Dunedin, but still in springtime lusciousness

The day’s tour was concluded with a stop in downtown Dunedin, with free time to wander about and shop. The stores that thrive on tourist business can even customize from day to day.

DSC_3139a — A touristy place beckons in downtown Dunedin

On excursion days, we like to find a local place to eat when that is practical. Time didn’t permit us to have lunch in Dunedin, but we were back on board for a late lunch, followed by an afternoon nap. There’s nothing quite like a nap on a cool, cloudy, wet afternoon.

That night, the ship cruised on to our next port, Akaroa, from which we excursioned out to the city of Christchurch, which is still recovering from a major earthquake in 2011.

(to be continued...)

TOP COMMENTS FOR MONDAY DECEMBER 14, 2015

From JG in MD:

In the diary “Matt Taibbi: It’s Too Late To Turn Off Trump” by Dartagnan, this comment by emorej a Hong Kong hit me between the eyes.

Drone strikes against video-tracked enemies seem to have largely closed the loop between virtual reality entertainment and machismo-driven foreign policy.

From Deja and 84thProblem:

In the diary “I Am Apparently A Hard Working, Frequently Broke, Fed The Fu*K Up Privileged Idiot” by Relevant Rhino, Vayle unwinds the apologists dream.

This is the goto quote when someone posts inconvenient truths about the Democratic party.

The other people are way worse so blah f-n blah, deal with it cause you have no better option anyway.

This quote is an apologists dream for anything that anyone does in the Democratic party.

From Besame:

In Besame’s own diary “Daily Bucket: You Otter Be Breeding Now”, she has high praise for the photos submitted by Knucklehead.

[Ed note: I’m including this here tonight, because there is some confusion as to how exactly the photos for the picture quilt (below) are selected. It’s done by a script from jotter that runs daily, and as far as I know is based on recs on comments that include pictures.

In this case, Knucklehead has submitted quite a few pictures, some in comments with multiple images, and some standalone. I agree with Besame on the beauty of the images, and it’s not easy to pick one or two, so I don’t mind highlighting them here. And I have no idea what the script does when multiples are in one comment that the algorithm picks. Presumably it goes for the first one. I dunno, really.

This technically isn’t a Top Comment nomination, though...

— Your diarist, lotac]

From her email to Top Comments:

IDK how top images are selected - by # Recs or submission or both. I see lots of cat pics and there are others that also have great photos but aren't in p/w peep diaries so the # participants (AKA Rec'ers) is lower.

anyway. my opinion with a submission. there's two comments from him, each with multiple photos and two later comments with one photo each (monkey statue and then sunset) and I'd be hard put to choose a favorite but his last photo - the sunset is wow. and the spider one, the pools, and the mating dragonflies!