OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Day 6 we awoke to a very windy and wet Wednesday morning. We arrived in Dunedin the night before and are staying near the city centre. Not the most picturesque city but the day had only begun so I decided to reserve judgement. 

We drove to the Albatross centre about 25 kilometres along the foreshores of Otago Harbour to view the male Albatross returning for mating season. Unfortunately it was too wet and windy to go on a tour so we then drove half an hour back towards Dunedin to visit Larnach Castle. This is New Zealand's only castle and was built in 1871 by William Larnach who was an Australian born banker, financier and merchant baron. In New Zealand he was a successful landowner and Minister of the Crown. Tragically, whilst seated alone in a committee room in parliament, he took his own life with a single pistol shot to the head. Events leading to this tragic event make  very interesting reading. Larnach's lasting legacy was his great Castle overlooking the spectacular Otago Harbour.

The Castle fell into disrepair and in 1967, Margaret and Barry Barker purchased the empty, derelict Castle. Their wish was to restore and secure the survival of this historic Castle for future generations. The Castle is still owned by Barker family descendants and available for visitors and guests to enjoy.

In the afternoon, we visited the Dunedin Botanical Gardens which has many varied species of flora (see photos in gallery), a large greenhouse and an extensive aviary with a variety of birds including Australian parrots. Most enjoyable and we both agreed the day had turned out better than expected.

Thursday morning we will be driving almost 300 kilometres to Wanaka in the Central Otago area.