I made a brief stop in Dunedin…a nice little city, with not so nice weather.

Dunedin is home of the steepest city street in the world…it doesn’t look all that steep here, but based on the number of Asian folks taking photos with their tablets and mortgage-requiring DLSRs, it must be legit.

Just outside of the city, if you head out the Otago Peninsula, is the Larnach Castle.
William Larnach (who was of Scottish decent, if the name didn’t already give it away) was born in Australia, and quickly rose through the ranks as a banker early on in life. He moved to Dunedin, chasing a gold rush, built this massive castle (from 1881-1887), as any good banker would, had a bunch of business and family drama, then killed himself in 1898. More proof that Biggie was right…mo money, mo problems.



 

 

 


 

Three wood carvers spend six and a half years making this ceiling

Pre electric blanket and hot water bottle…just throw some hot coals in here, snuggle up next to it, and hope for the best

A narrow, but tall spiral staircase lead of up to the highest point of the castle, with a great view, not only of the grounds, but the whole surrounding area, as the castle was built on a huge hill.

This is the methane plant, a piece of history which would bring a tear to Al Gore’s eye. There were toilets in here, and horse manure was piped in from the nearby stables. There used to be a large glass bubble on top of the building, which collected all the methane. It was mixed with acetylene, piped into the castle, and used to light all the crystal chandeliers.
Various flowers, which were ultra fragrant and bloomed throughout the seasons, were planted around the methane plant…but something tells me that no amount of flowers could compete with the smell produced here.

It’s clear that William Larnach wasn’t a Texan, based on this child-like gun collection.

Further out the Otago Peninsula, I checked out Sandfly Bay, hoping to find some penguins, which unfortunately weren’t out and about.

 

But there were some seals (or maybe they were sea lions?)

And all the way at the end of the peninsula, I was hoping to see an albatros…but apparently, they were hiding with the penguins. Instead, there were thousands of seagulls, and bird shit everywhere.
And a couple wrestling seals and a foggy, rocky coast