Day 30 – February 14, 2011 – Dunedin, New Zealand

What a beautiful clear sunny morning greeted us in Dunedin, actually in Port Chalmers.  We decided to cancel the long tour to the Albatross Center and just go into Dunedin.  We had done tours out of the city before, so decided to see what it looked like.  The ship had a shuttle running into the center of Dunedin which took about 30 minutes.

We walked down the main shopping street.  It had lots of smaller shops but there was also a large shopping center build inside of the older buildings that was quite attractive.  After walking back up the street (and the hill), we walked around the square.  There was quite a lineup of people at the theatre.  Turns out they were standing in line to buy tickets to the Elton John concert in November that will open their new stadium.  The stadium is being built close to the harbour for the Rugby World Cup happening in New Zealand in September.  Everywhere we have been in New Zealand, you have seen count down clocks to the World Cup Rugby Tournament and lots of shops with World Cup stuff.

We then walked down to the Railway Station which is one of the landmarks of the city.  We found a restaurant on the corner of the square.  This is the description they had written on the wall.  A place on a corner in the middle of a city at the bottom of the world.  We like that description.  After a light lunch we walked back across the square and got the shuttle back to the ship.

Tonight we had dinner at Prime 7 at a shared table where we might a nice couple from California.  They are retired, but make wine so they were interesting to talk to and knew a lot of the wines available on the ship.  He ordered a bottle from the reserve wine menu and asked us if we would like to share it with them which we were happy to do.  Jan had the lamb chops and they were delicious.  Fred had the bone-in ribeye steak which was tough, stringy and not good.  Fred didn’t think it was prime beef at all and has talked to Florian about it.   The special valentine desert was very good – a hazelnut crust, with a luscious crème covered in dark chocolate.  The four of us closed Prime 7 that night