#dailyat6am, #fromtheroad, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Dunedin City Across The Harbour

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Daily Photo – Dunedin city across the harbour

From Portobello on the Otago Peninsula, I was heading for the harbour settlement of Port Chalmers on the opposite side of the harbour. I was travelling by car, and since it was such a lovely day, I decided to take what we locals call “the bottom road” to the city. The alternative route is the “top road”, which passes through the rolling farmland of the peninsula, divided by long stone walls built in the nineteenth century. The bottom road, by contrast, snakes its way around the base of the peninsula, eventually linking up with the central city.

At just 18 km, it’s a narrow, winding road that leaves little margin for error, with the cold lap of the harbour tide ever present close by. Every other month, a vehicle has to be salvaged from the harbour after a moment’s distraction results in a watery end. Unless, of course, you travel with a local. Then it’s a daring drive where every corner and porthole is known intimately.

As I drove, the weather was fine, the harbour still, and the traffic light. Across the water, the city sparkled in the warm, mid-morning sun. It was all rather fetching.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Travels in small-town New Zealand, Wild Horses

Portobello Musuem

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Daily Photo – Portobello Musuem

The thing about being so far removed from the rest of the world is that we become obsessed with seeing it, often forgetting our own backyard. Recently, I read about a small local museum in nearby Portobello on the Otago Peninsula. It was at that moment I realised I’m as much at fault as anyone. I’ve been to Te Papa in Wellington many times, and I’ve visited London’s Natural History Museum, yet here was a small local treasure not far from my house that I’d never stepped foot in. I felt slightly embarrassed, almost as if I should write to the curators to apologise. Instead, I decided to go one better and went for a visit.

I had already decided to visit the port town of Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch, and this museum stop would be the start of my trip, on the Otago Peninsula. As a logical travelling route, it didn’t make any sense at all, but I was curious to see the Portobello Museum, and it seemed as good a place to start as any.

The wonderful thing about small, locally run museums in New Zealand is the random, shared nature of what you’ll find inside. It’s like rummaging through a back shed and discovering a long-forgotten antique clock given to you by your Uncle Tony. I mean that in the most affectionate way; I really do.

The Portobello Museum is closed for 165 hours a week, apart from a brief window on Sunday afternoons. On this occasion, it wasn’t a Sunday. Fortunately, you are free to wander the grounds, peering through windows at the collection of wooden buildings, including the community’s first jail and equipment from the lighthouse at Taiaroa Head. For 45 minutes, I was completely engrossed. Walk around Te Papa and you know what to expect, one eloquent display follows the last. This was back to basics: printed and laminated signs, slightly faded in the sun, and objects of no description carefully placed in well-tended gardens. It’s a community museum run by volunteers at its very best, kept alive not by foot traffic, but by local pride.

Standing by the white picket fence, next to an old cannon used as a flagpole base, I took one last look. It was a wonderful insight into early European life. They arrived with next to nothing, built rickety shacks, and had a drink at the end of the day, developing both our national No. 8 wire thinking and our enduring obsession with a cold beverage to finish the day.

#dailyat6am, Canon Camera, Dunedin, Otago Peninsula, Ōtepoti, Travel, Wild Horses

Dawn on the Otago Peninsula

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A Glimpse At What’s To Come

Daily Photo – Dawn on the Otago Peninsula

Dawn on the Otago Peninsula has a habit of rewarding poor decisions. Decisions like setting an alarm at an hour normally reserved for bakers, fishermen, and people who have clearly wronged themselves in a previous life. I was back on the hills again, chasing first light, convinced that this time would be different, even though experience suggested otherwise.

The hills rolled out in front of me, looking entirely unimpressed by my effort. They have seen far more determined early risers than me. Māori travellers crossed these ridges long before roads or coffee existed, and later European settlers arrived with grand plans, questionable footwear, and a firm belief that fences would solve everything. The hills endured it all and carried on regardless.

Below, the harbour caught the sunrise and held it gently, as if aware that this light was not to be rushed. A lone cabbage tree stood nearby, doing its usual job of looking vaguely historical and deeply unbothered. These trees have been guiding people across this landscape for generations, and now one was quietly supervising my tripod setup.

As the sky slipped into shades of gold and fire, the tiredness faded, replaced by that familiar, foolish sense of triumph. Dawn does that. It convinces you that getting up this early was entirely sensible, at least until the alarm goes off again tomorrow.

#dailyat6am, Canon Camera, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Dunedin’s St Paul’s Cathedral

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Daily Photo – Dunedin’s St Paul’s Cathedral

In 1862, amidst the chaos of the Otago Gold Rush, the first St Paul’s Cathedral rose from the empty, muddy landscape of Dunedin’s Octagon. Constructed from Caversham stone, the church was an ambitious symbol of English heritage in a new and raw town. Unfortunately, the soft local sandstone proved to be completely unsuitable for the biting southerlies that whipped through the city, the stone crumbling so rapidly that the church’s elegant spire had to be dismantled within a few years to prevent a complete collapse.

Despite this, by the turn of the century the congregation had outgrown the rapidly decaying structure, so thoughts turned to designing a new, less collapsible building. Enter architect Edmund Sedding, who had plans for a cathedral of grand proportions. As the world descended into war during 1914 and 1915, the old Dunedin church was razed to make way for a Gothic masterpiece of reinforced concrete and Oamaru limestone. For four years, stonemasons laboured on a magnificent vaulted ceiling, the only stone-ribbed roof of its kind in the country.

Yet the shadow of the Great War drained both coffers and manpower. By 1919, the grand vision had stalled. With no funds left for the planned central tower or chancel, builders erected a “temporary” wooden wall to seal the end of the nave. In 1920, the truncated cathedral was consecrated, a majestic but unfinished torso of stone that would wait fifty years for its completion.

#dailyat6am, Canon Camera, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Otago Coastline

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Daily Photo – The Otago Coastline

There’s something quietly wonderful about standing above the ocean and watching the land fall away beneath you. From up here, the coastline dissolves into haze, headland after headland, each one slightly less certain than the last. The sea moves with that steady confidence it always has, unconcerned by the surrounding hills or the thin lines of road carved into the slopes.

It’s a view that encourages slowing down. Not stopping entirely, just easing back a notch or two. You notice how the light skims the water, how the cliffs carry the memory of older shapes, how distance gently erases detail until only form and feeling remain.

This is the kind of place where thoughts wander without effort. Where the city feels present but politely distant. You don’t come here looking for answers. You come to let the questions stretch out a little, carried off toward the horizon.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Night Moves, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Dunedin’s Unity Park at Night

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Daily Photo – Dunedin’s Unity Park at Night

At night, Unity Park looks out over a Dunedin that does little more than whisper under the moonlight. The streets below glow in soft lines and clusters, streetlights tracing familiar routes down toward the dark, unruffled harbour. The peninsula becomes a suggestion rather than a place, its shape replaced by shadow and imagination. It’s a quietly satisfying view, the city settled, content to exist in the space between light’s edges, where you’re led away from the straight world into a place where details slip and time becomes misty around the edges.

#dailyat6am, #fromtheroad, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

A Quiet Pause by the Otago Harbour

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Daily Photo – Otago Harbour in Scattered Sunlight

There are moments along the Otago Harbour when the world seems to quieten itself, as if it has paused to take in the light. Walking the shared cycleway near Glenfalloch, I found myself stopped by the sight of sunlight scattered across the water. It shimmered in a way that felt almost theatrical, each ripple catching the sun and tossing it back like a handful of tiny stars.

I had only planned a short wander, the sort where you tell yourself you will keep moving, but the harbour had other ideas. There was something soothing about the gentle slap of the tide against the rocks and the steady rhythm of bikes passing behind me. The city was just across the water, close enough to feel familiar, yet from that spot it might as well have been a world away. Standing watching the water glitter, I was reminded that some of the best moments arrive quietly, asking only that you stop long enough to notice them.

#dailyat6am, #fromtheroad, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Dowling Street in Dunedin

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Daily Photo – Dowling Street in Dunedin

I had an enjoyable, meandering amble through Dunedin’s Octagon and around the streets that sit above it, where I joined a series of paths that led me back down into the city. That is where I came across a smallish street called Dowling Street. A short but steep two-block street in central Dunedin, its finest feature is the way it manages to encapsulate a multitude of layers from the city’s past. It is, I suppose, about 400 metres in length and lined on one side with a steep bank where the road was cut through a hill, while on the other stands an assortment of buildings of various ages. Further on, the street crosses the main thoroughfare of Princes Street and is surrounded by everything from office blocks to art galleries.

At first glance it doesn’t appear unique, but it is very much a living slice of history. Many of its buildings are heritage listed and their uses have evolved over time, which gives the street a layered feel. You can sense the old industrial-Dunedin, even as people live, work and create there today.

This small street has seen everything from industrial clothing manufacturing to decline after boom times to the revitalisation of art and culture. Its steep, narrow contours and worn stairway remind you of how much the city had to be reshaped, yet the area is creative and alive with galleries, studios, small businesses, creative energy and busy foot traffic. As far as streets go, it is not particularly handsome, yet it doesn’t need to be.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Otago Museum Atrium

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Daily Photo – The Otago Museum Atrium

If there’s one place in Dunedin that still makes me feel like a wide-eyed kid let loose in a treasure chest, it’s the Otago Museum. Every time I step through those bright, echoing atriums, I’m reminded that curiosity is a muscle that never really stops working. From the upper levels you can look down across the glass walkways and clean lines of the building, watching people drift in and out of exhibitions like they’re moving through different eras of history.

On my latest visit, the place felt alive in that familiar, quietly energetic way. Kids buzzed around the edges, adults wandered with that purposeful museum stride, and somewhere below, the gift shop chimed softly every time someone decided they absolutely needed a puzzle or a picture of a bird. I paused at the railing for a moment, taking in the reflections, the lights, and the polished floors that seem to stretch out like a map, one that leads to every corner of the Pacific, every tale of Southern people, every strange sea creature lurking in the “Sea Monsters” exhibition.

What I love most is that the Otago Museum doesn’t just display things. It invites you in, sits you down, and says, “Here’s the world, let’s explore it together.”

#dailyat6am, #fromtheroad, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Long Grass near Portobello

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Daily Photo – Long Grass in Summer

If there’s one thing this photo reminds me of, it’s how quickly summer settles around here. I took it near the Marine Studies Centre in Portobello on a stunning Sunday afternoon, the kind of day when the heat shimmers off the dry grass and you realise the season has truly arrived. Here in Dunedin, the daylight feels endless and the city has relaxed into what is hopefully a long warm-weather rhythm. Even the simplest scene, like these sunlit grasses, seems to hum with that easy summer energy. It’s a gentle reminder that this is the time of year built for slowing down and soaking it all in.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, iphone, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Marinoto

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Daily Photo – Marinoto

The story of Marinoto begins in 1878 with a vision so grand that even the budget couldn’t keep up. Commissioned by part-time engineer and part-time entrepreneur John McGregor, the house was built from solid Port Chalmers bluestone and finished with pale Oamaru stone. Well, the part that was finished, anyway. After completing the exterior and the ground floor, McGregor ran out of funds and the house sat half-done for the next few years, quietly waiting for its next chapter.

That arrived in the form of Arthur William Morris. A director of the Union Steamship Company, he stepped in at a mortgagee sale and took over the property. By 1883, the first floor was complete and he named the house Marinoto, a word thought to mean calm or peace. It was an impressive home by any measure with fourteen main rooms, a grand foyer, coal-fired central heating, electric lights powered by its own generator, formal gardens, and even a tennis court.

Then came 1903 and the Sargood era, which turned Marinoto into its most glamorous version of itself. Under Sir Percy Sargood, the house became a lively hub of Dunedin society, the sort of place where you almost expected a brass band to strike up the moment you stepped through the door. The Sargoods hosted balls that spilled onto the wide lawns and garden parties that made full use of the thirteen acre estate. Guests wandered among the rose beds, paused beneath old trees, and did their best to look as though they were part of a grand period scene. Inside, a substantial staff kept everything running with the quiet precision of a well rehearsed performance, polishing silver, preparing feasts, and somehow ensuring no one was ever left with an empty glass or a spare moment. For a time, Marinoto truly became the place to be.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

First Church Dunedin: How One Man Moved a Hill for a Masterpiece

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Daily Photo – The Steeple Of Dunedin’s Iconic First Church

If you stand outside First Church on a bright Dunedin day, it’s hard not to feel slightly dwarfed by the whole thing. The spire seems to poke at the sky in that confident way only nineteenth-century architects attempted, and you can almost hear the distant echo of someone saying, “Yes, this will do nicely.”

The story behind it begins with the Reverend Dr. Thomas Burns, who arrived here in 1848 aboard the Philip Laing with 239 determined Free Church settlers and what must have been a very firm sense of purpose. Burns, nephew of the poet and spiritual anchor of the new colony, found himself the sole minister for the entire settlement. It’s the sort of job description that would make most people carefully rethink, but Burns pressed on.

As Dunedin swelled during the Gold Rush, Burns became convinced the town needed a proper church. Not a modest wooden chapel, but something permanent and impressive. The only problem was Bell Hill, which loomed inconveniently in the way. The solution was simple in theory and maddening in practice: carve the hill down until the ideal building site emerged. It took the better part of a decade, and Burns kept a close watch throughout, making sure the dream didn’t drift.

In 1862, architect Robert Lawson won the design competition, offering up a Gothic Revival masterpiece that looks as though it was dropped in from a much grander city. Burns was still very much the project’s champion and had the honour of laying the foundation stone on 15 May 1868. Sadly, he died in early 1871, two years before the church was finally opened on 23 November 1873.

He never saw the Oamaru stone finished or worshipped beneath the soaring interior, but you feel his presence all the same. First Church may be a place of faith, but it’s equally a monument to one man’s persistence, vision, and refusal to accept that a hill – even a big one – should stand in the way of something remarkable.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Great Dunedin Fire of 1867

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Daily Photo – Dunedin House & Otago

Recently, while wandering through central Dunedin I experienced a momentary bout of amnesia. The kind where you forget where you’re going, why you’re going there, where your car is parked, if I turned the oven off, that kind of thing! During one of these lapses in brain function, I caught myself gazing up at the buildings on the corner of Princes Street and Moray Place, wondering what once stood there. It seems, in this case, the answer begins with one of the most dramatic nights in the city’s early history when a fire swept through central Dunedin. It was so catastrophic that flames leapt across the streets and for a fast growing city in the middle of a  gold rush built mostly of timber, it was nothing more than a nightmare.

The alarm was raised on a Monday night in April, 1867 when flames were seen coming from the shop of ironmonger George Willson – whose premises sat on the westerly side of Princes Street. Not far from where Dunedin House now stands. Within hours the entire block had disappeared under a pile of ash. The Criterion Hotel, perched right on the corner of Princes Street and Moray Place, vanished into smoke, the Theatre Royal and the Octagon Hotel were completely destroyed and by Tuesday morning, the heart of Dunedin looked as if it had never existed.

Yet, like many Dunedin stories, the aftermath was not just about loss rather more about rebuilding. The fire showed that wood possibly wasn’t the best building material to construct a commercial city from and that brick and stone might be a better solution. Within six months new structures were rising from the rubble ushering in a Victorian and Edwardian building era of grandeur and magnificence.

The corner where Dunedin House now stands would have been taken up by one of these masonry buildings. The old Criterion Hotel site was rebuilt to suit the wealth still flowing into the city. Herbert, Haynes and Company rebuilt their large drapery store, a business that later became the DIC and is now part of the Public Art Gallery block. For decades the whole area was filled with ornate nineteenth century commercial buildings.

These stood for roughly a century until they were removed to make way for the modern commercial block known as Dunedin House. It is not the grandest building in town, but it occupies a site that has seen disaster, recovery, architectural ambition and a complete cycle of change.

#dailyat6am, #fromtheroad, Creativity, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway Line

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Daily Photo – Ravensbourne Overbridge

The Dunedin and Port Chalmers railway line has the distinction of being New Zealand’s first public railway. The story begins in the early 1870s, Otago was booming from the gold rush and Dunedin was effectively the country’s commercial capital. As Dunedin grew, the nearby docks at Port Chalmers became the region’s lifeline with everything being shuttled by horse, cart, or boats around the harbour. Eventually, a fast, reliable railway link between the harbour and the city was considered essential and the new line promised speed, efficiency, and a bit of flair.

The work was undertaken by the Otago Provincial Council who controversially gave the contract to a British firm called John Brogden and Sons. The Brogdens were Victorian railway builders of the formidable, moustachioed variety. They arrived with boatloads of workers, crates of equipment and a confidence that suggested they knew what they were doing. 

It was then that things got messy. Many of the workers arrived expecting plenty of work and good wages, only to discover there wasn’t, conditions were poor, the workers were often drunk, there were wage disputes, demands for better housing while the Brogdens’ were accused of inflated claims, and demands for extra payments. Not only was progress slow, the whole project became an administrative, political and financial tug-of-war between local and central government. All of which made the project a pretty consistent mess for a simple 12 twelve kilometres of track. The line itself was not simple. The track had to thread its way along the steep harbour edge, where cliffs met water and space was tight, extensive cuttings and embankments were required and many large stone retaining walls were required to make the track safe. 

Fortunately, the line was finished in time and officially opened on 31 December 1873 and almost immediately transformed the movement of merchants, passengers, mail, and freight between the port and the city. Unfortunately, for John Brogden & Sons, by the 1880s their business empire had collapsed and they were financial ruined.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Otago Harbour, Otago Peninsula, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Many Adventures of Captain James Cook

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Daily Photo – Otago harbour

When Captain James Cook and his little tub, the HMS Endeavour, appeared off the Otago coast in February 1770, he was already on something of a hot streak. He had been sent to the Pacific to observe the Transit of Venus in Tahiti the year before and, having completed the task, was given free rein to bob about the South Pacific to see what else he could find. What he was really looking for was the assumed existence of Terra Australis Incognita, the great unknown southern continent that many Europeans were convinced lurked somewhere down under.

By the time he appeared off the Otago Coast, he had completed his scientific observations, his botanist Joseph Banks had collected and recorded thousands of previously unknown species of flora and fauna, he had named and claimed a number of islands for the British Crown, circumnavigated the entire North Island, identified and sailed through Cook Strait – proving that the North and South Islands were separate landmasses, created a remarkably accurate chart of the North Island coastline, and had begun charting the South Island.

By any standard it had been a successful trip. Once off the Otago coast, he noted several things in his journal. Firstly, the many coastal features suggested a potentially sheltered harbour. Secondly, he observed an abundance of whales and seals. The interesting point here is that he thought the entrance to Otago Harbour was nothing more than a bay and sailed on, while Europeans would return and slaughter the whale and seal populations to near extinction.

It had been only a few months since the Transit, but an astonishing amount had been achieved. So, apart from the small matter of almost wiping out an entire collection of marine species, the rest was pretty good work for someone who wasn’t really a captain at the time  – he just called himself one!

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

So This Is Christmas?

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Daily Photo – Christmas in Dunedin

I was running an errand in the centre of town the other day when I wandered into the Octagon. There, proudly displayed in the lower Octagon, was a large Christmas tree. Now, I hate to sound critical, but the Dunedin City Council seems to have gone for the sparse look with the Christmas decorations in recent years. Throwing a 45-foot tree up in the middle of town and draping a bit of tinsel from a few lamp posts hardly inspires the Christmas spirit.

It’s not as if we’re expecting a dense, glittering display of thousands of blue, white, and red lights with a massive, brightly lit tree dominating every shop window beneath a starry sky. Take this photo for example: if you were to whisk the tree away, it could be any other sunny Saturday afternoon in Dunedin. What’s more, it’s the exact same tree as last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. They’ve had twelve months to come up with a plan, and the best they managed was shifting it slightly to the left! What’s next – getting rid of the New Year’s fireworks and replacing them with a disappointing light show? Oh wait, that was last year.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Otago Harbour, Otago Peninsula, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Wandering on Otago Peninsula

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Daily Photo – Gun Emplacements at Harrington Point

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, I recently wandered out to the gun emplacements at Harrington Point. Some people go to the beach, others enjoy a café. I apparently head straight for nineteenth century military architecture and hope the tide behaves itself.

The road out is classic Otago Peninsula travel. You lope past Macandrew Bay, Broad Bay and Portobello, each looking as though it had been arranged just slightly better than the last, until you reach Harrington Point where you try very hard to park your car “considerately”. This is New Zealand, so the definition of considerate is flexible – on this occasion I aimed for mildly annoying.

The fortifications were built in the 1880s when Dunedin became convinced the Russian Empire was about to stage a dramatic entrance. Quite how the Russians were expected to find us remains a mystery, given we sit in the Pacific like a crumb that fell off the edge of somebody’s biscuit. Still, enthusiasm trumped logic and a maze of tunnels, magazines and engine rooms was carved into the hillside.

Exploring the place today is great fun. You duck into passageways where the air echoes, climb staircases that lead to nowhere in particular and start to wonder how any invading navy would get past the seals who survey the area like slightly disinterested security staff. One seal gave me a look that seemed to say “good luck mate, you will twist your ankle before any Russians get you”.

The whole area feels like a half-forgotten relic from a time when New Zealand thought it was more strategically important than it probably was. Yet that is exactly why it is so charming. It is history wrapped in optimism, resting above a coastline that insists on being explored when the tide is right.

Dunedin, Otago Peninsula, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Grounds at Larnach’s Castle

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Daily Photo – The Grounds at Larnach’s Castle

Back in William Larnach’s day, the grounds of his wonderful home were very different from what they are now. Rather than lovely gardens and sweeping lawns, much of the land was used for orchards, vegetable plots, paddocks for the livestock, and workers going about their daily tasks. Larnach himself would have looked out over a busy, working estate.

Today, arriving at the grounds feels more like stepping into a painted postcard. The lawns roll gently underfoot, edged by carefully tended flowerbeds, ornamental trees, and vibrant beds of rhododendrons. The old glasshouses remain, but they now display exotic and native plants rather than providing food and sustenance. 

The change is quietly profound. What was once a practical, working farm has become a beautiful estate for visitors to admire. As you wander the paths now, you can almost hear echoes of footsteps long gone – gardeners, farmhands, horses taken over by the peaceful hum of today.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Roaming the Streets of Port Chalmers

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Daily Photo – Roaming the Streets of Port Chalmers

I spent a while roaming the streets of Port Chalmers, doing that aimless but satisfying kind of wandering where you look at buildings you’ve seen a hundred times and suddenly realise you’ve never really looked at them at all. One kept pulling me back like a magnet: the old Bank of New Zealand, sitting proudly on its corner as if still keeping a watchful eye over the wharf. The place has the sort of architecture that quietly announces the port was once a much bigger deal in the Dunedin story, even if the building, like a few of its neighbours, is now well past its glory days.

In more recent times it was owned by Ralph Hotere, who used it as his art studio, which feels wonderfully fitting. If a building with that sort of pedigree isn’t destined to become an art gallery, then honestly, serious questions need to be asked!

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Great Taniwha of Ōtepoti

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Daily Photo – Te Aka Ōtākou

I recently read (not that it’s new news!)that the shared pathway that snakes its way around the Otago Harbour from Portobello to Port Chalmers is called: “Te Aka Ōtākou” (The Otago Vine). It is a fitting title for a route that unwinds gracefully along the water’s edge and is well worth exploring. From certain angles the pathway looks like the spine of a taniwha, twisting its way from the place where the city of Dunedin now stands to the harbour mouth at Taiaroa Head.

In fact, a Māori legend tells of a great taniwha that once lived in the long harbour. As the story goes, this mighty creature carved the deep channel while thrashing its tail, creating the bends and curves we see today. The taniwha guarded the waters and the people who travelled across them, watching over the harbour until it finally came to rest at the entrance near Taiaroa Head. Some say the distinctive shape of the harbour still follows the line of its body, a reminder that the landscape carries the memory of the taniwha within it.

Aotearoa, Dunedin, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Exploring Olveston: Inside Dunedin’s Grand Historic Home

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Daily Photo – Dunedin’s Most Elegant Edwardian Home

After an hour or so of wandering aimlessly through the museum, my mind started to drift toward what else the city might be hiding. Curiosity eventually nudged me uphill, into the Dunedin suburbs, and toward the stately home of Olveston. Spread over one acre, the site originally held an eight-room villa purchased by the Theomin family on Royal Terrace in 1881. Twenty years later they bought an adjacent property, and in 1904 they acquired another, giving them enough land to plan a new house and garden across all three sections. Construction began soon after and, by 1907, David Theomin — a wealthy English merchant who wanted to create an English country house in the city for his wife Marie and their children, Edward and Dorothy — had completed the grand four-storey home.

The finished house featured reception rooms, a library, a kitchen, a dining room, downstairs guest rooms, and a galleried hall rising from the ground to the upper floors, which also served as a ballroom. There was a billiard room, a card room, and numerous bedrooms, with the servants’ quarters on the top floor and a large laundry in the basement. Olveston remained a family home from the time it was completed until 1966, when Dorothy, the last surviving member of the Theomin family, passed away. She bequeathed the property to the City of Dunedin, and it opened to the public the following year.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Juvenile Fin Whale at Otago Musuem

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Daily Photo – Juvenile Fin Whale at Otago Musuem

I headed for the Otago Museum because it had started to rain and wandering around a Museum seemed just the thing for a lazy Saturday afternoon. In the main foyer of the Museum is a cafe called Precinct. It was busy and doing a brisk trade of coffee, hot chocolates and all manner of food orders that hungry customers were happily tucking into. I passed them by and headed up the staircase to the top floor of the museum which is labeled the Animal Attic – a room that contains some 3,000 historical specimens, with a mix of taxidermied animals, pinned insects, and preserved specimens. Tucked away in this room, in a small jar, is the single greatest thing on display in the entire museum – that being ‘The Rat King’. 

A Rat King is formed when the tails of a group of rats become tied together in a way so they can’t escape. Usually the tails are knotted and entangled with straw, hay, hair or other material found close to their nests. The largest Rat King ever discovered was in May 1828 when a miller in Buchheim, Germany, pulled apart the walls of his chimney and uncovered a mummified tangle of thirty-two rats. The animals were hairless, black with soot, and their tails had become tightly knotted together. The miller passed the strange find to the local natural history society and it eventually made its way to the Mauritianum Museum in Altenburg, where it is still kept on display to this day. The Rat King on display at Otago Museum isn’t quite as large as that, it is made up of only eight rats, but it’s very impressive none the less. It was donated to the museum in the 1930’s when the rats were found to have fallen from a nest that was located in a local shipping company shed and became tangled together with horse hair. 

The room one floor below the Animal Attic is called The Maritime Gallery which celebrates the seafaring stories of Otago. Pride of place is the skeleton of a 17 metre long juvenile fin whale which has been hanging peacefully from iron girders since 1883. Unusually for whale skeletons, this one has been kept in exceptional condition having been on display for more than 100 years and has an extremely colourful past. Originally it was found on the beach at the entrance to the Waimea River, Nelson, in 1882 by Captain William Jackson Barry. An ex-whaler who made a living from lecturing throughout New Zealand – he exhibited the skeleton at a store in Nelson, before touring the country with it.

In 1883 he sold it to the Otago Museum but before he did so, he did a rather strange and curious thing. While exhibiting the skeleton in a warehouse he hosted a number of invited groups to dine on a three course meal inside its ribcage. At the time of its acquisition by the museum, having a full whale skeleton was a big deal and suspending such an item in a historic building required some ingenious, out of the box thinking and quite a feat of engineering – where it has been fascinating people ever since.  

The thing that strikes you immediately about the specimen is the size – at 17 metres it isn’t even fully grown, adult fin whales can grow up to 27 to 30 metres in length. If nothing else, it shows you just how truly immense these creatures are and how vast the ocean must be. The thought is mind boggling! 

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

New Zealand Centennial Commemorative Lookout

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Daily Photo – New Zealand Centennial Commemorative Lookout

Back in the 1840s, when a group of Scots became disgruntled with life in their bonny wee part of the world, they did what any sane, rational human would do. They packed up all their worldly possessions, bundled them into a boat, and sailed 14,000 miles to begin a new life in a place they had never seen and probably could not have found on a map. Fortunately for them, a few of their English counterparts from down the road in London had recently signed a treaty with local indigenous chiefs at their intended destination. This at least gave the newcomers the sense that settling would be reasonably straightforward.

So, when the first of these settlers arrived on the shores of what would later become the city of Dunedin in 1848, they wasted no time in making everything look nice and homely. Over the years, from the trees and mudflats on the edge of their new home, a delightful wee town slowly rose with all the charm and industriousness you would expect from a determined group of Scots keen to recreate a slice of Scotland at the bottom of the world.

One hundred years later, keen to celebrate what a wonderful job their ancestors had done and to mark the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, everyone agreed that a New Zealand Centennial Commemorative Lookout would be the perfect way to give the city a well-deserved pat on the back. Plans moved along swiftly and a local hill called Signal Hill was chosen as the site of the new landmark. Its height and commanding views over the Otago Harbour were obvious advantages. It was also accessible by road and already an important navigation and communication point, since a coal beacon signal station and flagstaff on its summit had long helped guide ships through the narrow harbour. It was, in all respects, an ideal location.

Needing an architect to complete the design, the job went to Henry McDowell Smith, somewhat of a celebrity in South Island architectural circles, he quickly got to work. The foundation stone was laid by the Mayor in February 1940 and the official inauguration followed in April. Unfortunately, things did not go smoothly after that. The entire project would not be finished for another fifteen years, a full decade later than planned. The main delay was caused by a certain German fellow with a small moustache who decided he would try to take over the world, starting with Europe. Understandably, this held things up for quite some time while the mess was being dealt with.

Things got back on track in the 1950s when progress finally picked up again. The site was completed and two bronze sculptures were commissioned to stand on either side of the monument. The entire project was finished in 1957. Today, residents have a commanding stone Centennial Memorial, flanked by impressive bronze figures, that offers spectacular panoramic views of Dunedin City and the Otago Harbour.

#dailyat6am, Creativity, Dunedin, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Quiet Night Air of the Esplanade

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Daily Photo – The Quiet Night Air of the Esplanade

I waited a few moments for a light rain shower to pass before strolling along the beachfront. I passed both the St Clair Surf Lifesaving club and the statue of ‘Mum’ (a famous local Sea Lion) and looked out beyond rows of sand sausages – massive long tubes made of mesh, filled with sand and put in place to help slow coastal erosion. I watched the incoming tide for a few minutes, turned and headed for the far opposite end of the Esplanade. The whole area was quiet in the fading light as the street lights started to take hold. Reaching the end of the Esplanade by the Salt Water Pool, I paused beside a cafe that must have closed several hours ago. Once again I stood and watched the tide roll in, breaking against the rocks before receding out into the backwash. Every so often patches of sand became exposed, revealing leftover seaweed and driftwood that would shift and move with the tide. I took a moment to look out across the ocean. As the light had continued to fade, the sea had taken on a moody grey-blue complexion. Suddenly to my left the lights of the Hotel St Clair came on and drew my attention back to the Esplanade. In the blue hour of evening, I walked in the salty sea air as darkness held. The lights from the hotel reflected off the road’s glossy surface, created from light misty rain that had recently passed through. The glow of the lights from the hotel revealed a cleaning crew packing up from the day while the restaurant was just starting to become busy. Occasionally, a passing vehicle would slowly pass along couples holding hands, walking in the calm and quiet night air.

#dailyat6am, Creativity, Dunedin, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Otago Harbour Sunset

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Daily Photo – Otago Harbour Sunset

That evening I went for a slow walk along one of the tracks on the top ridgeline of the peninsula. It was late in the day and, with just enough time left before sunset, I spent a short while making random stops, pushing my way through long grass and tripping over hidden rocks while the sky shifted through a range of colours. It had been a long day and my feet were tired, I was hungry and ready for a drink. I found a rock and sat for a moment letting the last light disappear while I paused to take in a final view of Otago Harbour. It had been a good day.

#dailyat6am, Creativity, Dunedin, Observation, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

King Edward Technical College

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Daily Photo – King Edward Technical College

Later in the day I went into a café near the Octagon, bought a Coke, and sat in the window with the book I’d been reading. I read for a minute or two before finding myself simply watching the passing scene. It was surprisingly busy for a weekday afternoon. People stood in large groups on the footpath, looking lost and pointing in all sorts of directions before  shuffling off at more or less the same time in more or less the same direction.

I watched all this with great fascination, occasionally sipping my drink and abandoning my book entirely. Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I knew exactly who these people were: cruise ship passengers. Suddenly everything made sense. The guidebooks, the cameras, the maps, the heavy jackets, the peaked sun caps, and the expressions that hovered somewhere between confusion and forced interest. Dunedin had entered cruise ship season, and for the next five months the city would be crawling with people who didn’t quite know where they were or what they were doing here. Come to think of it, that could also describe a fair number of the city’s university students.

Having finished my drink, I gathered my things and made my way up Stuart Street, passing the stunning St Paul’s Cathedral and the old Fortune Theatre. After crossing Moray Place and Smith Street, I found myself opposite the former King Edward Technical College. It is a truly impressive building when you stop and take it all in, yet it seems oddly forgotten about in recent times until it made the news when a truck crashed into it or the owner floated the idea of selling it. Suddenly, everyone leaped up in outrage about what a travesty it would be to lose such a place. Then the news faded and people went back to ignoring it.

The building really is remarkable. For twenty years it was New Zealand’s largest secondary school. It boasted a saltwater swimming pool, which was quite fancy for a school at the time, a walk-in safe, which is not something you expect in a school, and it is listed as a Category I historic place, meaning it holds special or outstanding historical or cultural significance. Yet when it went up for sale in 2022, the local council chose not to buy it due to financial limitations, competing priorities, and risk. That left the way clear for a private buyer to swoop in and purchase it for $2.9 million and do whatever he likes with it.

Is it just me, or is that a tiny bit sad?

#dailyat6am, #fromtheroad, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

Early Morning on George Street

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Daily Photo – Early Morning on George Street

I was up early. I don’t know why, I just was. So, with time to spare before I had to be anywhere of note, I went for a walk in the city centre. I’d half expected it to be filled with delivery vans coming and going from the various establishments that lined the main street, while baristas and bakers prepared for an early morning onset of locals wanting a fix of coffee and something made of pastry to start the day. But I was wrong. There was hardly a soul around. A few enthusiastic souls passed on their way to a nearby gym, moving with that purposeful stride, yet apart from them, the city was remarkably quiet. The entire place had the look of a place that wasn’t sure it wanted to be awake yet, as though it had been nudged from a perfectly good dream and was now blinking at the day in mild protest.

As I moved down the street, the sun began to peek over the rooftops, sending soft, warm light across the buildings opposite. It caught the glass frontage of the Wall Street Mall, and the pale façades along the street glowed gently, their details becoming clearer as the light moved down the walls. There was a calmness to the place. Shop windows stood still and silent. Even the plants along the street seemed to be taking their time. It felt like a small moment of peace in the middle of the city, a reminder that some of the best views happen long before the crowds arrive.

#dailyat6am, Aotearoa, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, South Island, Wild Horses

Mount Cargill & The Organ Pipes

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Daily Photo – Mount Cargill & The Organ Pipes

After a slightly breathless scramble to the top of Dunedin’s famous Organ Pipes, you’re rewarded with a view that practically demands a moment of awe, and maybe a little happy panting. Beneath your feet, rock formations that took nearly 15 million years to form jut out like nature’s own sculpture garden, while native broadleaf and podocarp forest stretches lazily down Mount Cargill. Before European settlers arrived, this whole area was forest – proper, ancient forest and some of what survives today is genuinely old, especially where logging either gave up or wasn’t thorough enough. You’ll notice patches that are part original, part regenerating bush, and part exotic forestry that clearly went rogue. From these primeval rocks and leafy slopes, the land tumbles toward farmland and the shoreline far below, a reminder that nature likes to show off now and then. Much like its cousin, the Otago Peninsula, this corner of New Zealand has its own personality and charm that sneaks up on you, whether you’re ready for it or not.

#dailyat6am, Beach Life, Dunedin, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

A Warm Day by the Sea

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Daily Photo – St Kilda & St Clair Beach

I spent the morning walking the various coastal paths that stretch from St Clair to St Kilda Beach, occasionally breaking away from the formed track to wander through the sand dunes and along the beach for a while, before clambering back up to rejoin the path once more.

It was a warm Dunedin day, with the temperature having already climbed into the twenties by mid-morning. By Dunedin’s standards, the mercury was fairly soaring. I didn’t have anything more pressing to do than shuffle my way along the beach and trip through the dunes until I felt I’d done enough to earn a beer at the end of it all — which, as it turned out, was right around four o’clock when I finally made it home.

#dailyat6am, Dunedin, Otago Peninsula, Ōtepoti, Wild Horses

The Shape of the Peninsula

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Daily Photo – The Otago Peninsula

I had always thought that the Otago Peninsula was an interesting shape, with all its bays, inlets, and promontories that border the Otago Harbour before meeting the open sea. It’s like the spine of a taniwha as it twists and turns its way from where Dunedin city now sits to the harbour mouth at Taiaroa Head. To drive the peninsula is one thing; however, it’s not until you see it from a high vantage point that you truly get a sense of its unique shape. It really is no wonder that, an abundance of wildlife was able to thrive undisturbed for centuries in its secluded coves and sheltered valleys, hidden away from the rest of the world by the folds of its rugged hills and the long, protective arm of the harbour.