Sunday 20th February Hamden to Portobello (Otago Peninsula) 120kms.

I think that we could have both happily stayed in Hamden for the rest of our trip but the idea was to see South Island so we had to leave this wonderful place. We drove to Dunedin and parked near the railway station and town centre. Dunedin railway station is amazing, it almost defies description!

"In the early 1900s Dunedin was the commercial centre of New Zealand. A magnificent railway station befitting this status was opened here in 1906.

Today the station remains, fully restored to its former glory. The ornate Flemish Renaissance-style architecture features white Oamaru limestone facings on black basalt rock. The sheer size, grandiose style and rich embellishments of the station earned architect George Troup the nickname of Gingerbread George.

The Evening Star newspaper of the time was hugely enthusiastic about the new station: "The ornamentation of the ceilings is delicate, and the whole atmosphere of the place is one of costliness... the lavatory and sanitary arrangements are luxurious".

The booking hall, for example, features a mosaic floor of almost 750,000 tiles of Royal Doulton porcelain. The one kilometre main platform is the country's longest and every year in October becomes what is probably the world's longest catwalk, for the South Island's main fashion show."

We spent quite some time there looking at the architecture and the amazing mosaics in the booking hall. We then walked up to the town centre in search of a place to eat and were astonished to find ourselves surrounded by pipe bands and men in kilts, We saw more kilted men and heard more bagpipes than one expect to find even in Scotland! Of course it was the Scots who settled Dunedin (gaelic for Edinburgh) and their heritage lives on. We assumed that it was a special gathering of pipe bands from the area who were taking part in a display. After lunch we had hoped to go to the museum but time was running short so we did a shop at New World and set off for the Otago Peninsula. I wanted to visit there as I had read so much about it but I felt that perhaps N would have preferred to stay in Dunedin. I was driving and although it was a magnificent drive along the twisty coastline of the peninsula I wasn't able to see a lot as I really needed to keep my eyes on the road! There is only one camp site on the peninsula and it was a great disappointment after our 3 days in Hamden. Not very friendly, cramped and busy. Of course the very windy weather didn't help either! We managed a short walk to the small town of Portobello and the beach but were happy to get back to the van.