Last Day in Dunedin

Dunedin, NZ

We checked out of our hotel in Dunedin this morning, but had several hours to kill until our bus (which turned out to be a shuttle van) left this afternoon.  The hotel was kind enough to let us leave our bags with them while we explored Dunedin for the last time.  We wanted to go to the Otago Settlers Museum, but hadn’t gone yet, so we decided to make that our main activity for the day.  We were very impressed with the museum – especially since it was free!  We weren’t really part of a tour, but there were several tours going on while we were at the museum, so we listened in on a few of the commentaries.  The tour guides gave very enthusiastic and informative tours and didn’t seem to mind us soaking up the information.

In one area the museum had recreated what it would have been like to travel by ship from Britain to New Zealand.  Passengers were on board ships for 3 to 5 months in very crowded sleeping areas!  Can you imagine being on board a ship for that length of time?  Dan and I couldn’t help but compare how easy it was for us to get here.  We hopped aboard a plane and were in NZ in less than a day.

We also really enjoyed the transportation section of the museum where we saw old trains, trams, bicycles, etc.  We each got to “ride” a Penny Farthing, a bicycle with one big front wheel and one smaller back wheel.  “Penny Farthing” was a reference to the biggest and the smallest coins that were used in Britain at the time (the penny and the farthing).  Below you’ll see a picture of an old Speight’s wagon that was used to delivery beer.  Apparently the horses were very familiar with their routes and knew all of the places they had to stop, because when someone rented the wagon and horses to be used in their wedding, the horses were adamant about stopping at all of the local pubs along the way!