We stayed our week in Dunedin near the Warehouse district. This city which proudly boasts New Zealand’s first public Art Gallery and first Art Society invited international artists to create artwork to try and promote and preserve their heritage and buildings.
Tim and I took some time in Dunedin to browse half price book stores and stock up. Being in the Warehouse Precinct we were surrounded by auto dealers and former factory/garment buildings. “Action panel beating” reads the sign of the establishment across the street. Our apartment was on the first floor (2nd floor in the US) and was previously a cutting room for fabric. Our floor level bedroom windows can be seen in the photo below the ones just under the red sign.
One morning we spent at Lanarch Castle, built in 1871 by William Larnach, merchant baron and politician, for his first wife Eliza. It is rather a tragic and intriguing family history.
I liked the cat in the ornamental windows. “Sans Peur” sounds like something a cat would say. It means undaunted, or unafraid.
The gardens had an Alice in Wonderland theme, as the original owner’s daughter liked the story. As an interesting coincidence, Deb was fortunate to see the Melbourne Ballet Company perform Alice in Wonderland in the Regent Theater, downtown Dunedin during our stay.
The extensive gardens had a surprising amount of flowers considering that it is fall here. But the flowers shown below are from our next stop, the botanical gardens in Dublin.
Actually, this last one isn’t a flower, but a succulent. And it is from the castle gardens.