Thursday 11 March 2021

Dunners is not a dud

It's a bit odd, as a visitor to Dunedin, to be directing around the city two people who were born there, one of whom has lived there as an adult, but neither of whom had any idea of where they should go for a bit of downtime sightseeing. So I guided them into the city, past the cathedral and the back of the Robbie Burns statue, through the Octagon and along George Street where we were all, to be honest, astonished at being able to drive straight into an on-street free car park.

The Ed Sheeran mural went down well, as did the indoor malls with such an excellent range of shops that even non-shoppers like me were attracted inside. Best of all was Maher Shoes, with some extraordinary Brazilian artworks that it was hard to imagine anyone actually wearing.

The Railway Station was a success too, as always, with its over-the-top decoration, pillars, arches, pediments and towers - and that was just the outside. Inside were nearly 750,000 Royal Doulton tiles in the floor mosaic, gorgeous stained glass windows featuring, naturally, steam engines, and the Otago Art Society gallery. There were not only lovely artworks, but also a couple of friendly, chatty artists at work - very different from the snotty woman behind the desk of the NZ Sports Hall of Fame opposite, who was very curt and unwelcoming. Made me glad I didn't want to go in anyway.

Ironic across the road does an excellent own-blended coffee, but I can't recommend their cheese rolls, which came flat, dry and crisp. I would have liked to visit the Chinese Garden nearby, which looks lovely in the brochures, but there was no interest from the others so we drove back out of town, attempting to find a lookout on Saddle Hill but failing - because, we learned later, all the signs had been taken down to dissuade people from using the carpark as party central. Student town, see.

And we finished by going to see a house that has a long history for us all, but which is now sadly unloved and unlivable, and very much smaller than we all remembered. It surely won't be standing for much longer and seeing it was, as if we needed it, a memento mori moment.

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