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Sat 15 Nov 2014
We leave Dunedin, but first a tour around the city - beautiful 19th century buildings, the Scotish influence everywhere (street names, McThis & McThat, tartans and it seemed like a Presbyterian Church on every second corner. There were gardens everywhere - front yards & back yards, parks, roundabouts, anywhere they could plant a bit of colour.
We headed out of the main city area climbing high up a mountain out on peninsula to Larnach Castle. The house was built between 1871 and 1887 as the residence of William Larnach, a prominent entrepreneur and politician in colonial New Zealand. He was exceedingly wealthy and spared no expense in building the house. The resulting complex eventually contained 43 rooms and a ballroom and required a staff of 46 servants. The ballroom was built as a 21st birthday present for Larnach's favourite daughter Kate in 1887. Kate died at the age of 26 of typhoid, and her ghost is still reputed to haunt the ballroom. The ghost of Larnach's first wife, Eliza, is also said by some to haunt the castle. The building, which Larnach himself simply called "The Camp," did not ensure his happiness. After a series of personal and financial setbacks he committed suicide in New Zealand's Parliament Buildings in October 1898.
Morning tea at Larnach Castle then on through some more beautiful scenery of rolling hills, sheep, dairy farms and the ever-present snow capped mountains. Many small towns or settlements; most dating back to the gold rush era of the 1800s. Two of these small towns were Clinton and Gore only 41 klm apart. This section of the State Highway has been renamed the Presidential Highway.
The landscape along the way included mountainous ranges, gorges & ravines, sheep, dairy cattle & red deer farming and vineyards. The area is absolutely beautiful.
We arrived into Te Anau about lunch time and had free time for the afternoon.
Temperatures: Min 13 (Dunedin) Max 17 (Te Anau)
Today's insights:
Te Anau is a town on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland in the South Island. Lake Te Anau is the largest lake in the South Island and second only within New Zealand to Lake Taupo (North Island).
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