A Short Trip to New Zealand (part 2)

If Milford Sound was awesome, the rest of the trip was just as beautiful. Our cruise ship continued around the tip of the south island and continued northeast along the coast. The first port of call was Dunedin.

Believe it or not, after 7 days of “Western” food, I was ready for some Chinese food to break up the routine. We found a place called Papa Zhou’s Yumcha which served Hong Kong style dimsum. This is sticky rice with chicken and wrapped in lotus leaves then steamed in a bamboo wicker basket.

That was for lunch. Meanwhile, I got to roam parts of Dunedin such as the Otago Settlers Museum. Here, I got to study the history of New Zealand and learned about the challenges the initial Scottish settlers faced as well as the native tribes – the Maori and others.

After that, we headed over to First Church of Otago.

One of the most interesting architectural trivia is the church’s foundation is sliding and not attached to the bedrock. Why? Because this part of New Zealand is in an earthquake zone. In 2010 and 2011, there was a devastating earthquake near Christchurch which damaged many buildings, especially modern ones. By contrast, the First Church of Otago in Dunedin escaped damage. The scaffolding you see is not because of the earthquake. In part, because the foundation was sliding, this church was fine. The architects in the 1800s did not have access to the 3D computer modeling programs of today but they were just as intelligent and were able to construct this feature. Ironically, this is not the first building called the First Church; this is actually the third one.

I would love to go back and take the rail tour leaving from Dunedin Rail Station.