We docked before 7 am to what appeared to be a pretty busy container and lumber port. The wood is shipped to China from New Zealand and returns after processing so that houses can be built here as local building materials are somehow in short supply.
It rained when I was in Dunedin last. It is said that it always rains in "deep south" (South 45 degree) Dunedin. Today was 70ish and quite sunny. We took the first shuttle bus the 8 miles from Port Chalmers to the town square--actually a octagon--of Dunedin. Dunedin is the "most Scottish town in New Zealand". Actually Dunedin means Edinborogh in Gallic. They make whisky (note the current spelling), and there even ware four bagpipers on the pier (unphotographed).
The town was quite lovely despite another Princess ship--the Sun Princess--which followed us into the port. We managed to dodge the many name tag clad people to the statue of Robert Burns and the quite lovely but modern built Anglican cathedral and made our way down through the handsome downtown to probably the most beautiful railway station in the Southern hemisphere. The station has mosaics of locomotives, stained glass windows of locomotives, and a beautiful ticket booth lobby. Unfortunately, there is no actual locomotives as there is no scheduled train service any more. Fortunately, the volunteer tourist train into the interior of the South Island I took years ago still runs daily. We then visited a local museum for its free wifi if the truth be known and then depleated our New Zealand dollars at the Chinese Gardens, a 6 million dollar gift from the city of Shaghai to Dunedin. We visited the actual gardens in China a couple of years ago. So it was interesting to see the same "windows" providing the same views. We then returned to the ship after looking at more pretty modern churches to get a good view of the beautiful sailout which was shared by chefs taking pictures of the Food and Beverage Manager, a Silversea tradition.
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