Thursday, February 11, 2010

Day 163

Well my first full day in Dunedin promised to be a good one. I started the day once again at the Otago Museum – I couldn’t believe that it was free! I do believe in at least giving a donation at least, which is what I did.
There were many exciting exhibits; one of the best ones was the animal attic. It was a collection, I would say, of at least 600 different creatures. One of which was BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS.



Around noon I figured it was time for lunch. I ended up finding a takeaway (although I sat in) and ate some wonderful peanut chicken; I ordered the small but it ended up being quite filling. Shortly thereafter, it was time for my sweet tooth to get fed. I was heading over to the Cadbury Factory for a tour.

You get to start by doing a self guided tour through the history of the museum. Who knew John Cadbury, the original creator, was a quaker? Not me! Perhaps I should get a discount next time?


Once the tour started we were off like a herd of turtles. We got to see the processing plants (where they make “Buttons”), the warehouse where they store everything, and my personal favourite, the purple silo which contains a mechanism that pours out just vats and vats of chocolate! Chocolate from the heavens is my fave, although I decided against licking the stairwell (many did). At the end we each came out with five small choco bars… and a new appreciation of the gooey sweet stuff.

I also got my picture taken by Chris and his wife and their son Andy (sorry if I’ve mixed them up, guys). This is one of the old milk vans!


I also was happy to reciprocate the favour for them.

Wait, why can't this leave me alone???

I decided then to pop back to the museum to check out the butterfly exhibit. It was really neat, having been in the butterfly conservatory back in Niagara Falls as part of a dive trip. It was a great chance to snap pictures too.



You’d think, after all that excitement, that I’d be done for the day? Not quite! After a wonderful supper Chris, his parents and I headed over to Baldwin Street. And what does Baldwin Street hold? Well, it’s the world’s steepest street, at a gradient of 1:2.86! Note please that I don’t understand the significance of that, I still do appreciate it.

We started by driving up the street, which is a bit nervewracking. I’d never want to do it with a stick (manual) shift, that’s for sure! And then we drove back down – just as crazy! Apparently there’s a youtube video with someone going up on it on a Segway.

Once parked at the bottom, we then started to walk up. At times we stopped to take pictures. Here are two to compare.


First, here’s one that we took on the natural grade. You can see we’re leaning, but not too much.

Secondly, here’s one that was took to make the street look nice and flat. It’s quite the art to show you this, as it’s difficult to achieve!

At one point Chris started to run up the street. Now please take into consideration that he is several years my junior, then please enjoy this youtube link to the evidence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCabSZvFGSQ


Not that bad, I figure, for an older dude! Chris previously climbed the CN tower with me and another Reach student back in Toronto.


All four of us gathered at the top to get a group picture,

then we met a gentleman from Liverpool, England who had decided to bike down the hill! You can see in this evidence that he actually DISAPPEARS out of view. The street really is steep.
It was a great experience however!



And then we got a Cookie Time cookie. As if I hadn’t had enough sugar that day already.

Following a stop to the Otago University campus (where Alfred teaches and Chris studies), it was back to the homestead to hit the hay. Tomorrow promised to be a longer day…

Cheers,

Vick.

PS - This was my view from the room where I was staying in Dunedin.




New Zealand is wonderful. Frankly, I'm not sure if I'm coming back to Canada. Apparently my visa is only good for three months, however.

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