Dunedin, NZ
We had two very fun excursions today that were both absolutely FREE (and you know we love free)! First, we walked to the “Dunedin Botanic Garden.” It was beautiful – absolutely worth the cost to get in . . . wait . . . it was free (but it was still very much worth the walk to get there)! New Zealand is currently in Autumn so we got to see lots of trees changing color while we were walking around. We even got to see some of the flowers in bloom since they’ve had a cold snap followed by a warm snap. But don’t worry, we read that the plants retain enough buds to still put on a fantastic spring show. Our favorite part of the gardens was the aviary. Actually, we spent quite a bit of time there since we got caught in a rain shower. We decided to wait out the rain shower underneath a shelter nearby the larger birds such as the macaws and parrots. The birds were very lively and seemed to put on a show for us.
At the Dunedin Botanic Gardens — a really good find!
Katie takes time to “stop and smell the roses”
Despite it being Fall, a few roses are still blooming!
The Botanic Garden shows its Fall colors
We spend a few minutes taking in the scenery
A very colorful bird in the aviary
A very lively cockatoo told us “Hello” and “Have a cup of tea!”
Our second “excursion” was to the steepest street in the world. Yep, you heard me correctly. I said WORLD! Dunedin is home to the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street. We thought that we couldn’t pass up walking (or more accurately hiking) up and down one of Dunedin’s claims to fame. Dunedin is a very hilly city so we thought we’d seen some really steep streets already, but Baldwin Street put those other streets to shame. We got to see something very special while we were at the steepest street in the world. We were only about a fourth of the way up when it started to rain and we saw a beautiful full rainbow! In fact, for a few seconds we could even see a double rainbow! Go God! The rainbow only lasted a few minutes, but we were able to capture the beauty of it while it lasted, and we even snapped a few pictures. Luckily, the rain passed quickly and we were able to hike up Baldwin Street without any rain. That hike up the hill really gave our legs a workout, but we did it and made sure to gloat a bit at the top.
At Baldwin Street in Dunedin — the world’s steepest street!
Wow! A double rainbow!
Hurry, take our picture before the rainbow fades!
Katie after hiking the world’s steepest street
See! We weren’t kidding! That’s a 35% incline!
Katie demonstrating the incline.
Snap the picture — then back to huffing and puffing!
Luckily they provide stairs for the decent
Looking back at those pictures, it’s hard to see how steep Baldwin Street really is. So here is another picture we found online.
lovin’ the posts! Your trip looks amazing so far!
Wow…that is a truly awesome hill!!! I love the rainbow! What a cute picture of the two of you under it!