A tale of three centres

Otago is the second most southerly province in New Zealand. The landscape varies dramatically within short distances whilst its human history is shared with indigenous Maori, early whalers and sealers, gold miners and Scottish settlers.

We have been fortunate to stay in three different locations over two weeks thanks to the generous hospitality of Jackie and Paul Murray in Dunedin, Judy and Grant Campbell in Alexandra and Brian and Jill Church in Pounawea.

First stop was Dunedin, the “Edinburgh of the South”. This city was Leslie’s home when he was training to be a teacher in the early 1970’s. As a city it has something for everyone. The hills are populated with a variety of homes from Victorian two-storyed wooden structures to modernistic black metal dwellings on stilts. Jacki and Paul’s home was one of the latter and gave us a unique view over the Forbury Park race course, the Pacific Ocean beaches of St Clair and St Kilda and beyond to the Otago Peninsula. It is impossible to look at this vista and not want to explore it.

For over 700 years the spectacular 21 km long harbour has been active for trading and travel. We visited Port Chalmers where cruise ships now dock at the same wharf that six branches of Leslie’s ancestors arrived from Scotland and Yorkshire between 1858 and 1884. The wonderful Port Chalmers Museum staff had some documents ready for Leslie and others to self search. We were able to walk the same street that Leslie’s great grandmother, Gam, had live in from 1884 to 1892 although we could not identify which house had been her home. Our day in the harbour was completed by a visit to Leslie’s cousin Marg Lean at Sawyers Bay.

At the centre of Dunedin, Gaelic for Edinburgh, is the Octagon, where a large statue of Robbie Burns is surrounded by beautiful Victorian buildings; St Paul’s Cathedral, The Town Hall and Regent Theatre among others. All of them have special memories for Leslie.

The student area of Dunedin is north of the main business district. This being vacation time, Leslie was able to wander here reminiscing in his old haunts. Carrington Hall, his home for two years, the Teachers’ College buildings, the university noticeboard where exam results were displayed at midnight and the student pubs which of course he never entered as the drinking age was 21 years and he was only 20 when he graduated 48 years ago.

North again from the student centre the Dunedin Botanical Gardens are a wonderful asset to this city. We wandered through avenues of planting from different world locations and stopped in the Lebanese Gardens , honouring the contribution of the people of the Middle East who have contributed to the success of the city. Johnny was delighted to find special mention of his favourite poet Khalil Gibran.

We loved our day on the Otago Peninsula; home to sea lions, seals (one was lying on the road so we had to drive around it) royal albatross, red and black billed gulls, yellow eyed penguins and a host of other wildlife. The vistas are incredible and our big surprise moment was discovering the Penzance kennels and cattery!

We were in Dunedin for New Year’s Eve. Dunedin prides itself in its Scottish heritage so we were excited to spend Hogmanay here. Although we were on our own Johnny prepared a wonderful dinner and we had our 12 grapes ready to toast the new year with each bong of the clock. Leslie opened the balcony doors to listen to the sound of pipers and marvel at the fireworks while Johnny set the television ready. So much preparation and anticipation. The moment came and there was nothing. Not a clock chime, a piper’s lament or a single sparkler. Dunedin is a fantastic city; we loved it all, but if you want to revel at New Year … try somewhere else. 😝

On New Years day we were treated to a wonderful meal cooked by Leslie’s uncle Alistair Church. What an amazing man he is. His interest in people and places, his thoughtfulness and care to detail and his ability to pour whiskies make him a legend in his own lifetime.

In September 2020 Leslie’s cousin Aileen lost her battle with cancer, so it was wonderful to have an evening with her two children, Abigail and Sam and share stories, tears, hugs and laughter with these two wonderful people.

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Alexandra is only just over 2 hours from Dunedin and this was our next port of call. Judy and Grant Campbell were our host in their expansive new home which overlooks the town in this dry, arid and stunningly beautiful area of Central Otago. Although only 150 meters above sea level, the atmosphere here is very dry; the temperatures are amongst the highest and lowest in New Zealand and our afternoon walk in 29 degrees Celsius soon had us staggering for the shade.

Judy and Leslie have known each other since their first day of teacher training, and Grant soon after that so there was lots of catching up to be done over walks, delightful meals at the Packing Shed in Earnscleugh and Paulina’s in Clyde, both venues we would highly recommend. Despite her best efforts, Judy didn’t convince us to re-open the Shaky Bridge Cafe in Alexandra; it has huge potential for the right person.

The walk up to the clock on the rock above Alexandra gives fantastic panoramic views of this area dominated by the mountains and Te Matu-au (Clutha River). It was also fantastic to have a brief catch-up with Craig Wright, Leslie’s one-time lodger and fellow member of London Gay Men’s Chorus before saying farewell to our wonderful hosts and heading to the coast but not before stopping to buy fresh apricots, plums and cherries at a road-side stall for which this area is renown.

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Pounawea (meaning the meeting of the waters) is our final destination on this two week stretch of our journey. Brian and Jill Church have hosted us in their beach house (bach or crib in kiwi language). This is the quiet backwater where Leslie’s family owned another small crib in partnership with his grandparents throughout his childhood. The gentle changing of the tides in the estuary, the distant waves of the Pacific and the call of bellbirds and tuis are as hectic as it gets.

Once again it was great to see Leslie’s Aunt and Uncle, Russell and Barbara along with his cousin Wayne as Jill and Brian plied us with food and beverage.

We loved Papatowai (where the forest meets the sea) with its fine gold sand, rocks and river mouth until the sandflies found us. For those of you who haven’t encountered this silent species, they are minuscule and veracious in their appetite for human flesh, so we quickly abandoned the area and headed to a local watering hole, The Whistling Frog. We rounded off our evening with the ubiquitous blue cod which is everyone’s favourite. We bought ours at the Catlins Cafe where my late cousin Aileen and her husband Steve used to dispense great food with warmth and humour. Sadly the current owners had had a charisma by-pass but the fish was great.

Our last full day on the south Otago coast has been spent at Kaka Point and Nugget Head. A stunning beach giving way to steep almost vertical cliffs; rugged and beautiful.

The three locations could not be more different from one another but the fantastic hospitality in each has been a unifying factor. Thank you to everyone who hosted and took time to meet with us.