Dunedin: a real University Town

Dunedin is my kind of town. Approximately 20% of the 122,000 residents are students, and they have wonderful traditions, like dragging their sofas out of their homes during orientation week, and setting fire to them in the middle of the street. Dunedin is also home to the ‘Undy 500’ an annual event that challenges Canterbury students from Christchurch to buy a car for under $500, hence the name, paint it up, and drive down to Dunedin while the passengers enjoy a continuous pub crawl. They finish the event by trying to drive the car up Baldwin Street, which has been named the steepest residential street in the world. Baldwin Street is also home to the ‘gutbuster’ race, in which people run up it, and the ‘Jaffa’ race, in which people roll the namesake spherical chocolate candy down it. I’m sorry we missed these events, although we did see the burn marks from the sofas. We also drove up and down Baldwin Street ourselves, although Sally had to close her eyes while filming. (In places, it has a 36% gradient. Declan Rooney doesn’t like going much over 12%!) It reminded me of Porlock Hill in England, one of the steepest roads in the world, which I attempted to climb in a 1953 Ford Popular in 1968. I remember it well, because after a number of attempts, I only succeeded by putting the car into reverse, and driving up backwards.
Our visit to Dunedin was greatly enhanced, and extended, by staying with John and Ann Barsby. They live in a magnificent Victorian Jacobean home on Royal Terrace, overlooking the city. John is a retired classics professor, and Ann is retired from the Polytechnic, where she did almost everything. Today, she runs a Heritage Trust, which is very appropriate in Dunedin given its significant stock of Victorian and Edwardian buildings. Unfortunately, unlike Vancouver, the local developers have not yet caught on to the benefits of restoration and renovation of heritage properties. Hopefully my stories about Vancouver’s Heritage Density Transfer Policies will help make a difference in the future. If Robert Fung runs out of buildings in Vancouver, he should definitely come down here.

Dunedin is also paradise for anyone who likes the outdoors. The beaches are spectacular, and there are more golf courses per capita than anywhere else I have been. There are wonderful cafes and restaurants, the climate is good, (although it does get colder in the winter) and the housing is more affordable than other parts of New Zealand. If that’s not enough, Speights Brewery, one of NZ’s largest, and Cadbury Chocolates both have major manufacturing plants here. And yes, they both give tours and free samples. I don’t understand why the whole world doesn’t just move here.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

We went to Akaroa on the recommendation of Fodor’s guide. The town is unique in that it was originally settled by the French, who in 1840 were hoping to claim New Zealand for France. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on whether you like escargot, they were a bit too late. Today the town’s French roots are evident in the names of the ‘rues’ and businesses. One of Fodor’s readers thought this seaside community was the highlight of her trip to the region, and regretted not staying over. So we did.

We found a wonderful, romantic cabin in the woods, with a fireplace, lots of candles, comfortable reclining leather chairs, and a porch looking out over the ocean. We decided to have dinner at C’est la vie au bout du monde, a very small but popular establishment that accommodates its guests at two sittings. Patrons are seated at tables of four or six, but must first gather on the front steps, a glass in hand, to review a chalkboard that serves as the only menu. After dinner, guests are invited to write their comments on the walls or ceiling. It was a very special evening; so much so that I was convinced that something bad would happen the next day, just to balance things out. And it did.

The next morning, Sally prepared a wonderful country breakfast in our kitchen. We shopped for local Akaroa pearls in nearby jewelry shops, and had lunch. Around 2 pm, we had to choose whether to play golf on the nearby course, and then drive towards Dunedin; or skip the golf, and venture inland through the mountains to Lake Tepako, famous for its brilliant blue waters.
We made the wrong decision.

We came to Lake Tepako. Since it's a holiday weekend, we booked accommodation en route at the Godley Resort Hotel. I had visions of the lodge at Lake Louise, or a smaller version of the Banff Springs Hotel. But when we arrived, we discovered an un-godly motor lodge in a community that was little more than a collection of highway strip commercial buildings.
There were only a couple of unappetizing restaurants, so we dined in our room on leftover pate, cheese, and fruit purchased at different roadside stands. Fortunately, we had bottles of cabernet and desert wine in our cooler. To pass the time, we decided to rent a DVD player and set out to find Lord of the Rings. While there were dozens of terrible American films to be had, LOR was not available. But we did find Peter Jackson's more recent film, King Kong, and settled in for the next two and a half hours. After twenty minutes, the DVD broke down, and we knew it was time to accept that this would not be our best evening in NZ.

I write about this experience not so much to complain, but to publicly declare that not everything in NZ is perfect. I just can’t understand how the village at Lake Tepako was allowed to turn out so badly, when all the other places we have visited have been so great. If there was a planner involved with Lake Tepako, he must have been hired out of Wyoming.

We are expecting much more from Dunedin. It’s our next stop, where we hope to see the steepest residential street in the world, and meet up with friends of our old friends Mary and Gary Hiscox. Gary is the former manager of Granville Island, but now he and Mary devote their lives to world travels. They are currently house sitting a remove vineyard near Adelaide. I'll bet they didn't stay in Lake Tepako. Otherwise, they would have surely warned us not to come!

At least you are now warned!

ps One good thing did happen in Lake Tepako. Sally got to play golf with her new pink bag!

Christchurch, the Garden City

Once again, we were spoilt by a New Zealand hotel. This time, we were given a two storey, two bedroom penthouse suite on the top floor of the Grand Chancellor, Christchurch’s tallest hotel. We immediately set off to find some new friends, so we could have a party!

Christchurch, like Wellington, has a wonderful feel about it. With a population of just under 400,000, it is New Zealand’s second city, after Auckland. It’s a planned city, (Adelaide in Australia is based on the same plan sent over from England), with extensive parks and gardens. The city has a very English character, with punting along the river, and many gothic style buildings, including the Cathedral. Interestingly, the university was relocated from its historic downtown location, to the outskirts, and the former campus has now been converted into a cultural precinct. (Quite the opposite of what has been happening in Vancouver, where SFU is converting heritage downtown buildings into a university.)

Trams were used in Christchurch from the early 20th century until the 50’s. Today, restored trams transport tourists on a 2.5 km inner city loop to various landmarks around the downtown. (Perhaps this is what inspired Dave Rudberg to propose a similar system for Vancouver). The tram stops at one of the most interesting streets I have ever seen. It is symetrical. That is to say, the buildings along one side have been matched on the other, although some have changed over time.

I was also impressed with the Art Gallery, which is located at one of the stops, and cost only $40 million, just a few years ago. The main stop is Cathedral Square, which is surrounded by heritage buildings, and connected to a pedestrian mall which feels a lot like Granville Mall. (It seems like there are the same black dressed, dirty, pierced, and tattooed kids, who move around the world from mall to mall.)

One place which did feel very different was the Antarctic. Well, the Antarctica exhibit, located near the airport. Since it was twice voted New Zealand’s best tourist attraction, we decided we ought to go. And we’re glad we did. Although, after experiencing the -24 degree snowstorm, I now feel a cold coming on!

As for the storm, you walk into a room, where a flashing light lets you know how many minutes until the next snow storm. You put on a large parka, and rubber overshoes, (so as not to dirty the snow), and enter a special chamber and wait. Sure enough, the carefully placed warning flags start blowing, and the next thing you know, the wind is howling, and there are blasts of cold air. And I’m wearing shorts! After the snow storm, there are visits to a penguin colony, and various other interactive exhibits. Having gone through the centre, we now feel we know much more about Antartica, than we do about our own Arctic.

We finished off our visit with a ride up the Gondola, which reminded us of Grouse Mountain. From there we could see the Alps, and Akaroa, a French settlement, and our next destination. Speaking of Alps, I must confess that before coming here, I wasn’t aware that skiing is so popular in New Zealand. In fact, there are numerous resorts in the South Island, and the sport appeals to many New Zealanders, when they are not tramping, surfing, bungee jumping, or cycling around the country.

I’ll start with the Sauvignon Blanc, please.

Marlborough Country. It has nothing to do with cigarettes in New Zealand. It’s all about wine. And it’s much bigger than we ever expected, although many of the wineries are quite close together. So close, in fact, that some people tour them by bicycle. But we chose to drive and walk to quite a few that were in the vicinity of our Vintners’ Retreat Resort, our vineyard accommodation. Although our favourite, Oyster Bay did not have a cellar door. After a day of tasting, and sniffing, Sally couldn’t find a sauvignon blanc she didn’t like. But, having become accustomed to Californian, Australian, and BC cabernets, she couldn’t adjust to the pinot noir, which is the most prized red in this region.

Many of the wineries have very good and (by our standards) reasonably priced restaurants. We ate at Vintners the first night, and could have stopped after the two bowls of bouillabaisse, with large banana prawns that are regularly flown in on ice from Australia. But we didn’t. NZ restaurants feature a lot of very creative, and oftentimes ‘fusion’ dishes. For example, at Whitehaven we had lemon and mussel chowder with capers; scallops on gingered sushi with coriander and tamarind sauce; rack of lamb with honey tossed spring vegetables; and venison with sautéed grapes, red wine honey and espresso sauce. Speaking of espresso, the coffee here is excellent, although early in our travels, our beautiful waitress had absolutely no idea what Sally was talking about when at breakfast she ordered a ‘regular decaf’ coffee after enjoying a couple of flat whites. There’s no such thing as a brewed cup of ‘regular’ coffee. Each cup is individually prepared, either with an espresso machine, or coffee plunger. Most of our accommodation has a coffee plunger in the room, (or what the French call, café filtre).

At Whitehaven, we met two couples from Colorado, who didn’t like being asked by New Zealanders whether they were from America or Canada. There is quite a bit of anti-American sentiment here, although it’s not as pronounced as the good natured anti-Australian sentiment. While we haven’t met that many Americans, there are a lot of tourists from UK, which recently voted New Zealand the number one tourist destination for Brits. They are treated well, as long as they don’t win at cricket. Actually, that’s not true. The New Zealanders don’t mind the British winning at cricket from time to time. They just don’t want the Australians to win. As for Canadians, we are considered ‘one of their own’. Everyone has a cousin living in Vancouver!

We left the wine region and headed south. I was in search of crayfish, and they were easy to spot along the road. "How much are they?" I asked once inside. "Just look at their tails," I was told. After I gave the salesgirl a puzzled look, she opened a cooler and I knew what she meant.

Windy Wellington

We knew we were going to like Wellington the moment we drove off the expressway and found the hotel lobby right there. Once again, we had booked a last minute ‘flaming deal’ on http://www.wotif.com/m, and were not disappointed. Our up-graded 23rd floor room in Wellington’s largest hotel had been beautifully renovated, and we immediately went downstairs, and successfully negotiated two more nights at the very modest rate of $125 NZ. This equates to just over $100 CDN, and includes all applicable taxes. (Actually, there is only one tax, the 12.5% GST which is included in the price of everything you buy. I often wonder what New Zealanders must think when they get their hotel bill and see just how many additional taxes they must pay.)

After an evening wandering around renovated waterfront buildings, the next day, we arranged for a tour of the city. We found a very windy, but scenic capital city, with hills and water. There is an overriding sense of creativity and culture. Much of it feels like Kitsilano, although Kitsilano doesn’t have any penguin crossings. Nor was Lord of the Rings made in Kitsilano. Some of it was shot in Wellington, which aspires to become Wellywood. After showing us some of the film’s shoot locations, our guide told us that his company’s Lord of the Rings Tour is now more popular than the City Tour we were on.

I was curious to see Parliament House, but unfortunately, I never did get a good photo of it. Perhaps that is because they didn’t get a good design! The original building was never finished as originally planned, and many people now confuse Sir Basil Spence’s ‘beehive’ addition, which houses government offices, with the actual Parliament building next door. Sir Basil’s building has become the architectural symbol of the country.

But I did get a good photo of two boys who represent the spirit of Wellington. I first saw the one with striped hair, and asked for a picture, since I knew my daughter Claire would love the way he coordinated his hair with his shirt. “Can I photograph you for my daughter?” I asked. “She has leopard skin hair”. “Photograph my friend”, he replied, whipping off his hat. “He has leopard skin hair too”. Ah yes, but I bet his father doesn’t have a matching yarmulkah, like I have!As soon as I saw this wall sculpture, next to the Chocolate Fish Restaurant, I knew I had to take a picture for Jim Moodie. Jim is a very creative guy. But he rarely works in shells. Jim, I hope this inspires you to do something clever on your neighbour’s wall.A highlight of Wellington is Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. It’s an impressive new gallery on the waterfront, with wonderful displays. Sally and I particularly enjoyed the earthquake. You get to experience what it is like to be in a home when an earthquake strikes. We immediately wanted to return to Vancouver and rearrange some of our furnishings. (But don’t worry Harley and Joani. We think you should be safe in our house until we get back.)We wanted to spend more time in Wellington, but having spent more than two weeks on the North Island, we thought we should head off to the South Island. And so we're off.

Ridulous Things

When you travel, staying in strange places, and doing different things, a lot of ridiculous things happen from time to time. So, lest we forget, here are some of the more unusual things that have happened so far.

Sally and I were attacked in our bed by a strange object.

It was our last night in Fiji. We decided to stay at a small beach resort near the airport. It had been a nice evening, but we were perhaps a little anxious since we were leaving, and had to get up for an early morning flight. Sally got into bed, and just as I was getting in, she turned out the light above the bed. And then she screamed. “There’s something in the bed!” I immediately struck it with the TV remote control that I just happened to have in my hand. But as I fell back, I too felt something hurt me. I turned over, and hit it again.

It was a burning hot light bulb that had fallen out of its socket above the bed. I still have a scar on my back to remind me of this near life threatening episode.

How do you pronounce it?

Throughout New Zealand, most of the place names are old Maori words. Rarely, do I get the pronunciation correct. So, as we were leaving Tauranga, I asked the hotel clerk how to pronounce Taupo, the next place we were planning to visit. “It’s easy” he said. “Remember toe, and paw, a dog’s paw.” So I did.

But people kept giving me strange looks when I asked directions to Toe-Paw. When we arrived I found out why. It’s not Toe-Paw….it’s Taw-Poe! I guess the clerk must have been dyslexic.

Cabbages and Golf Clubs

At the last minute we decided not to bring our clubs. But we were surprised to discover that club rentals were the same cost as green fees at some places. I briefly thought about buying clubs, but they were much more expensive than in Canada. So imagine our reaction as we were leaving Woolworths, a grocery store chain in NZ, and Sally spots brand new golf clubs in a dusty bag and pull cart, propped up against the window by the exit.

Does Woolworths sell golf clubs? We decide to go back and check with a shop assistant. “Well yes and no. We did on a special promotion, but these are the only ones left,” she says. “How much are they”, Sally asks. The shop assistant isn’t sure, but thinks they might be around $299. So we set off to find someone who might know. Eventually we find the store manager, and two of his assistants walking around. “How much are the golf clubs in the window” we ask. “It’s a terrible game” replies one of the assistant managers. “I should know; I’m a Scot!”

We explain that we are Canadians, and need some cheap clubs. Well he says, they are $200 but he’d like to sell them, so make an offer. “I suggest $100, or $125. “They’re yours”, he says, and instructs the check-out girl accordingly. So, after posing for photographs, we walk out. When we get to the parking lot, Sally asks. “Did you check to see if they are right-handed?” “It doesn’t matter, I replied. If they’re not, I’ll change my swing.”

We did check, and they were right handed. Furthermore, there was even a sand wedge! To top it all off, our hotel in Wellington has a corporate membership with Shandon Golf Club, and as a guest, they can offer me and three colleagues the opportunity for a round of golf. Green fees are complimentary. I’m off this afternoon. Let’s see if the club heads fall off.

Napier-Deco City

When we were in Fiji, we met a couple from New Zealand who, upon hearing I was an architect, said we had to go to Napier. I’m so glad we did.

On February 3, 1931, the town of Napier was virtually destroyed by an earthquake. The city fathers decided to rebuild. In order to make it happen quickly, rather than allow the City Council to make decisions, they appointed two people to oversee the reconstruction, and within three years much of the downtown was rebuilt…in the art deco style. It is all quite impressive. But what is so interesting is that I had never heard of Napier before being told about it in Fiji.

These photos will hopefully give you some idea of what the place is like. Unfortunately, while the city is well aware of what it has going for it, and is marketing its ‘Deco City’ label, there doesn’t seem to be any real effort to control the retail signage. As a result, the streetscape is not as impressive as it might otherwise be.

After leaving Napier for Wellington, we visited Hastings. The Lonely Planet guidebook described Hastings as ‘a utilitarian agricultural town with tractors on the streets and little of the chutzpah Napier manifests so readily.’ Well, I don’t know what happened to the LP authors in Hastings, but I couldn’t disagree more. As you can hopefully see from the photos, the downtown streets are lined with attractive Art Deco and Spanish Mission style buildings, and tied together with continuous canopies, with hanging baskets and planters. A very clever central fountain is bisected by the railway line, and public art can be found, including this group of sheep who wandered in from the nearby hills.

There are also wonderful street works, with very elaborate paving under the parking and at crosswalks. It reminded me of what we are trying to do at UniverCity!