At the end of November I got to travel to Dunedin for work, which is where one of my best friends lives, so I was very lucky to get down there and have 4 fun filled nights with my friend.

Because of Covid 19 I haven’t been on a plane or travelled outside of Auckland since February and I had some reservations and was a wee bit nervous and my biggest concern was – how do you eat and drink on a plane when you have to wear a mask? Turns out you just take it off!

Sunday 22 November – Day one

My friend Kelly picked me up from the airport and we drove straight to my hotel to drop my bag off.  I was staying at the Quest (serviced apartments) and there was nobody at reception, I had to ring them and get them to open the door remotely which didn’t work, so eventually they had to send someone to open the door.  So glad I didn’t need to go to the toilet.

From there we went to Kelly’s home where I got to meet her husband, read a story to her twins and have KFC for dinner.  Then she dropped me back to the hotel.

Monday 23 November – Day two

After a very short walk from the hotel I turned a corner and saw the Dunedin Court and very famous train station.  The weather was stunning, the buildings looked like something out of a movie and I thought how lucky am I to be working here for the week.

At lunchtime I raced out to take photos of as much as I could before getting something to eat and heading back to work. First stop was the Dunedin Train Station which is apparently the second most photographed building in New Zealand (the first being the Sky Tower in Auckland, apparently).

Across the road from the train station is the old Cadbury factory and a cool old building with the names of what it used to be called many years ago.  This amused me because when I was a kid I belonged to the Hudson’s Cookie Bear club and I had forgotten all about that.

Then I headed past the stunning Dunedin Court to look for some lunch.

After work I walked to the Otago University to meet Kelly and have dinner in the Lone Star restaurant.  After dinner we walked back to my hotel past more beautiful buildings and fascinating historical shops.

Tuesday 24 November – Day three

Another stunning day in Dunedin – which made me feel so lucky because Auckland was suffering from flooding and my garden needed it thanks to the stupid water restrictions. 

After work Kelly got dropped off outside my hotel and we headed to La Porchetta for dinner with Bridget.  Afterwards Kelly and I went back to my hotel for a couple of wines while we waited for her bus home to arrive.

Wednesday 25 November – Day four

Another stunning day in Dunedin with perfect weather.

At lunchtime I headed back to the railway station to check out the inside of the magnificent building.

After work Kelly picked me up and drove me all the way to Larnach Castle. This was something I have wanted to see for many years and has now been ticked off my bucket list – thank you so much Kelly. We knew the castle would be closed by the time we got there but I hoped I would still be able to see it and get a photo of it maybe peeking through a hedge or something. The man at the gate said we couldn’t go inside but we could definitely walk around it and enjoy the gardens. And it was worth paying the garden entry fee because at last there was the castle in all its glory and the gardens were beautiful too.

From there we headed to Saint Clair for some dinner with a fab ocean view.

After that Kelly drove me back to the city for a walk around the amazing Otago University buildings.

Thursday 26 November – Day five

My last day in Dunedin and as you can see it was a stunner – vivid blue sky and not a cloud in sight.

Then it was hometime – the airport was kinda groovy and had some cool stuff to look at, my fave was the old NAC Boeing 737.