Day 20. I will walk Dundin.
All night I had heard the rain on and off falling and I did
hope that I would not get caught out in it while on foot the entire day. I knew
where I was wanting to go and hoped it wouldn’t get too wet. I never knew how
long I would be, but I was wanting to visit the university bookshop to see what
they did have and on Sundays they close at 3pm. I had already missed them on
Friday.
My walking tour started earlyish in the morning, but I
didn’t really start walking until around 830 in the morning. I was sort of
following my map and walking in the direction, where I knew the Botanical
gardens were. I thought it would be good to start off with heading in this
direction and then working my way back, which sounded like a great idea in
theory. It did work and I did get caught in the rain too. My boots decided they
at first wanted to squash one of my feet. I found that by adjusting the laces
the pain went away, so the laces are everything.
The Botanical gardens were lovely and I didn’t realise how
big they actually were when I first set foot in them. I actually thought they
were not that big and it would be easy to end up at the cemetery as that place
looked close according to the map. The gardens were made p of different
locations in the world like Mediterranean and Africa. There was even an
Australasia area, which actually had an aviary. The gardens were actually
pretty nice and I think I actually wandered most of it. This place like every
other place in town was not flat and I did have to walk uphill for most of it.
On several exits I found signs that said tonight they were going to be shooting
possums and rabbits within the whole area including the cemetery after dark. I
did get some rain and I was popping up my brolly several times. I just pointed
myself in what I had thought was the right direction and kept on being
distracted by something. The birds did get my attention and I thought it was
funny that the cockatoo was teaching several of the other birds like the Macaw’s
to talk. I was trying to follow the map and realised I was walking in the wrong
direction and actually been turned around to where I had first started. One of
the paths I had taken was close to where I wanted to go, but I tried another
part, which was called the wetlands. This was more like the bush back at home,
but wetter. I followed the path on the first lot and it took me close to the
entrance to the cemetery, but I thought it was further down. I had only walked
a short way, while looking at the road and recognised the headstones as the
trees were not very thick. Turning around I found I was not very far off and if
I had followed the track, then I would have ended up at the bottom of the hill.
The Northern cemetery was actually pretty windy where the
trees were not closely bunched up. The cemetery was actually the first one in
the area after the town of Dunedin had been constructed. There is a Sothern
Cemetery on the other side of the city just as far out of town as this one.
There are several notable people that I know of are buried here. One was Thomas
Bracken a politician who wrote the national Anthem, Lenarch another politician and
whose house I visited yesterday. Something I had not noticed the day before due
to the rain was that the crypt actually had two security cameras sitting on
either side, I think whoever was watching would have gotten annoyed at me
taking pictures of them and walking past. I knew they were not lamps as the
gates closed at dark and these were the only ones I had seen. While wandering
around and yesterday I had one headstone pointed out of the speights, who were
of brewery fame, the rain decided it wanted to get heavy. Out came my brolly
and the wind blew it inside out. Luckily it wasn’t broken and could go back
into shape. It was like I was dancing a few times to make sure it wouldn’t do
that again. There were a few people working in the cemetery and they were
volunteer gardeners in some rose group who were weeding and planting roses. They
said they look good with the Victorian architecture of the cemetery. The grass
at some points were water logged and I was worried about slipping on the slopes
while wandering around. I knew a highland chief had been buried here, but I don’t
know where and will need a cemetery plan next time I visit town as I didn’t spend
very long as I wanted to do some other things and it was getting late.
The walk down the hill was actually pretty nice and by this
time I took my rain coat off as that too was with me and covering my backpack
that I was wearing so nothing would get wet. I was worried the brolly wasn’t covering
everything and the coat was going to offer some protection. On the way to the
museum where I would stop for a late lunch, the university was where I would
walk quickly through. This place has some similarities with Armidale, but the
buildings are older especially the part with the clock tower. There is a stream
running through and I found the biochemistry and microbiology departments,
which were close to each other. Later I found the history section to be covered
in scaffolding so must be rebuilding or earthquake proofing. I didn’t spend too
long there as I was getting hungry and actually found that the Otogo museum was
behind me and the one place that I knew was close that had food. I had to eat
and use the loo too.
After I had eaten and had my coffee break, although not very
long as I really only had 40 mins left before the bookshop closed for the day
and I would not be around on Monday for a look. The bookshop was to do with the
university and I thought the history section would be bigger. There was plenty
there, but not the stuff I wanted at inflated prices. Vietnam war through NZ
would be interesting to read and I thought they would at least have a history of
Dunedin, unless that was the settlement of Otago. I still want the books about
the archives too. Before entering the store, i had heard a skateboader behind
me so I sped up aiming for the stores door thinking he would go around me. I
wiped the poor bastard out as I barged into him and he came off the board. He
was alright though and I did apologise to him too and say I thought he would go
on the other side of me. Kiwis are so polite and if he had been Aussie, I might
have been decked and abused. My fault I do admit. The second hand bookshop part
didn’t have that much, unless I have to look at the NZ stuff to find what I
want. By this time I was actually starting to get tired and had trouble
focusing on the books.
I had been asked by a friend to take some pictures in the
train station and I learnt this place was one of the 200 most photographed
places in the world. The stained glass window of the train does look very nice
too. I even had the gorge train return while I was there taking pics. Last time
I was here I had visited NZ’s hall of sporting fame. I really wanted to get
back to the hostel as I was worn out and passed the Cadbury factory with a
quick visit to the inside as you do on your way home. Once I set foot in the
hostel it was around 430pm and I had been on the go for nearly most of the day.
What needed to be done was my washing and pack my bags then I didn’t need to do
anything else. Pretty busy day for one place that was wet, but not continuous
rain the entire time.
Tip
I learnt there is a hostel called Hogwartz. There are plenty
of stuff to do on a wet day and interesting people about.
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