Dunedin/Larnach Castle

On tsunami watch

Castle dinner

Stables

Larnach Castle

We drove to Dunedin, from Queenstown, primarily to see Larnach Castle (the only castle in NZ), but also to see Dunedin, which is called the Edinburgh of the South. Once, again, I did not see the similarity. And not until we arrived did we assess that Larnach Castle is not really a castle, nor is it on par with any castle we've ever seen before. It's more of a Manor House of sorts.

We stayed on the castle grounds in the former stables. The rooms are very simple and rustic. We chose to have dinner in the castle, in the formal dining room. We sat at a table with 20 other people from around the globe, and it would have been a fabulous experience if the kids would have cooperated. But, Elle was tired, and as previously stated, Liam is not the best dinner companion at the moment. Justin and I took turns with Liam, and eventually bowed out entirely. Lucky for us, the hosts were extremely gracious and even had dessert delivered to us in the stables.

The next morning we awoke and had breakfast in the stables and learned about the tsunami threat. We walked to cliffs edge to wait and observe and wait some more... for nothing. I guess that's a good thing. We toured the rather small castle and then took off for Dunedin. The clouds/fog rolled in and the air was chilly and heavy, and that's about the last similarity I saw to Edinburgh.

Compared to the rest of New Zealand, Dunedin completely underwhelmed us. In fact, we spent most of the remainder of the day in the hotel room watching TV and surfing the internet. This morning we stayed put as well, so Justin could watch USA/Canada hockey and then we began the long drive to Christchurch, our last stop in NZ.

Two nights here and then we are Australia bound.

All in all, we could have skipped both Larnach and Dunedin. Still, it made for a fun adventure.