Day 2 - Dunedin

After a somewhat restless night, I climbed down from the top bunk and headed off for a shower. 

Thought I would take advantage of the breakfast provided, remembering breakfast supplied in hostels in Sweden and Finland.  I was somewhat disappointed when the choice was cornflakes, milk, bread for toast with margarine and bottle of well dug out marmalade.  Ah well, it will get me on the road I guess.

My first job for the day was reconstructing Maggie, so with a bit help from the Boss, I hauled the box down into the foyer and proceeded to put it back together again – a process which only took an hour.  And everything fitted, tho I had a slight panic when I couldn’t find the pedals.  But they were located and are easier to put on, than to take off :)

Maggie ready to roll!

Dunedin Railway Station

So off down the hill I went, looking for the train station.  Its pretty impressive and not easy to miss, so I collected my ticket for the trip up to Middlemarch via the Taieri Gorge.  Took some photos inside the station as it is rather posh!

Then I spotted a fairly considerable sized church, so thought I would check that out.  It was the Presbyterian church – beautiful stained glass windows inside, with spires everywhere.  On old geezer (one of those volunteers) came along and began to drone on about the history for a tour group, so thought it was time to move on. 

I found a wonderful vegetarian café for lunch - Potpurris – so far have dodged meat easily – then pedalled off to look at Queens Gardens, which were a small square of lawn with a phallic plinth in the middle and a couple of trees, so not impressive.  But across the road were the Chinese Gardens, so I thought I would check these out.  And glad I did.  At first it looked tiny, but once in and walking along the paths, there were all sorts of little paths to follow.  It circles a small pond, with little bridges over it.  Apparently it was built in Shanghai, dismantled and reassembled here – during celebrations of 150 years of “built history”…  apart from the rather scudgy looking water, it was a really peaceful and restful place and I easily spent an hour there. 

I found a bike shop and bought a spare tube, so all my shopping was done, so spent the remainder of the day, pedalling around the streets, checking out the art gallery.  Don’t think I clocked up much more than a couple of kilometres, but as I am spending another 2 days here at the end of the trip, I didn’t venture very far. 

there was a young lad playing the bag pipes outside the City Halls - this is really a Scottish town, with a statue of Robbie Burns, plus I saw a Scottish shop but it was closed.  I will check it out when i return at the end of my trip.

 After I brought my bike back to the hostel, I took a stroll down town to find somewhere for tea.  Oh its Valentine day and everything is loud and a lot of bookings made.  I managed to share a table with a couple and dined on Kumara & Pea croquettes with haloumi & salad and a nice glass of Astrolab...  so not a bad way to end the day.  

Its still pretty light at 8pm, but I think a quick shower and a bit more of a read about Allan Karlsson and I will be away in slumber land.

Tomorrow - the train ride then a 20km pedal to Hyde - at last getting out on the trail.