July turns out to be another full-on month. Last weekend we went down to Dunedin nearly at the bottom of the South Island. We went down to check out the Halls of Residence for Lauren who is deciding where to apply for university next year.
Once again we flew over the Southern Alps which this time of year are snow capped. The view from the air was clear but sadly it was the last bit of sunshine we saw all weekend.
Gillie and I stayed at her nephews place and dog sat their dog called Maxwell Smart who took an immediate liking to Gillie.
Lauren stayed with her friend Alice who is already resident at the University of Dunedin, Otago. We did the dutiful parent thing and had a great time looking around the university. Dunedin was colonised by the Scots in the 1840s and a lot of the buildings are stone with a great Victorian style. The university itself was very impressive and the halls of residence looked like a summer camp. Dunedin also has a stunning railway station which has to be seen to believed. It is next to a train museum
(bliss for some of us or should I say one of us).A short way out of Dunedin is Lanarch Castle which was build in the 1890's. While it is meant to have great views out to sea the day we went it was shrouded in a thick mist. This made it very
spooky and the place does have a history of haunting by Lanarch's third wife. Larnarch himself went mad and shot himself in the houses of Parliament.The castle was abandoned a couple of times in its history until a young couple bought the property in 1967 and set about rediscovering its secrets. While we were not allowed to photograph inside the building the property has extensive grounds including an Alice in Wonderland garden. Apparently a lot of wonderful things were discovered as they uncovered buried treasures in the undergrowth.
The whole time we were in Otago the temp never got above 6 degrees and we were constantly rained or sleeted on But the buildings were fantastic and the people great and we are now keen to head back down in the warmer seasons.This August we will head down to Wellington to check out Victoria University. Hope the weather is better by then!
