February 18 Dunedin CBD Museums (Day 144)
A beautiful sunrise for our last full day in Dunedin.
We decided to go into the city and do some sightseeing. There are several museums, gardens and architectural sights to see. We parked the car near the railway station and went into the nearby museum “Toitu Otago Settlers Museum” and got a cup of coffee. We couldn’t take the coffee into the museum so we headed to the center of town, the Octagon.
A sculpture in the Octagon, of Robert Burns, famed Scottish poet. Dunedin being founded by Scots, and the first Presbyterian Minister Thomas Burns being a nephew of Robert Burns it seems fitting that Burns the poet would be memorialized in New Zealand.
We walked back to the museum and perused the many exhibits of cultural history of the area.
Lots of history of the “founders” of Dunedin – the Scots.
Just outside the museum is the Chinese Garden of Dunedin, “built to take you on a journey to a greater understanding of history, culture, heritage and tradition. Its origins come from a desire to celebrate the city’s Chinese heritage and its valuable sister city relationship with Shanghai.”
It is truly relaxing and beautiful.
After the museum, the garden and the walking, we returned to the Octagon for lunch and a walk further around the center to see the spires that rise above the other buildings.
We found 5 huge churches within a few blocks of the Octagon! Two of them are no longer churches, one is an art center, the other a vacation rental!
The grand daddy church, aka First Church, because the minister was one of the founders of Dunedin!
Along our walking path we came across a few pubs too!
Gee, there are angels in pubs too!
After visiting all those pubs! (Just kidding!)