Dunedin - Surroundings

Taiaroa Head, the northern tip of the Otago Peninsula, is famed as the nesting-place of royal albatrosses. Nearby are colonies of yellow-eyed penguins, seals and sea lions. There are boat trips from Dunedin to the rugged cliffs of Taiaroa.

A half-hour drive northwest of Dunedin is the wild and romantic gorge of the Taieri River. Visitors can jet through the gorge on a jet boat or rattle through it on the Otago Excursion Train.

There are popular beaches in the suburbs of St Kilda and St Clair, to the south of Dunedin on the sandbank linking the Otago Peninsula with the mainland. From St Kilda, where there are many sports clubs, the John Wilson Ocean Drive runs along the edge of the beach.

10km east of Dunedin are the Glenfalloch Woodland Gardens, laid out in 1873, with native and exotic trees. The mansion set in the gardens was built of kauri wood 2 years earlier. The gardens are at their most beautiful in spring, when the azaleas, rhododendrons and fuchsias are in bloom.

8km north of Dunedin is Mount Cargill (676m), from which there are fine views of the city, Otago Harbour and the Otago Peninsula.

25km east of Dunedin, on the former site of a large ancient Maori settlement, a Maori church and meeting house were inaugurated in 1940 on the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. There is a small cemetery containing the graves of three important chiefs.

The Trust Bank Aquarium in Portobello (20km east of Dunedin) is run by the University of Otago. Here visitors can see examples of almost all New Zealand's marine fauna.

From Signal Hill (393m), reached from the Northern Cemetery on Opoho Road and Signal Hill Road, there are magnificent views to the south over Otago Harbour and the city. On the hill is a monument (1940) commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. It incorporates a piece of rock from Edinburgh Castle, an anniversary gift from Scotland. Bronze figures symbolize the past and the future.