Dunedin reminds us of San Francisco. Dunedin has many very steep hills, it’s windy, their summer foggy conditions are similar, and it has water on many sides.
We had a full but relaxing day today exploring this city and we walked up and down the rolling hills for six miles.
A highlight of the day was the Speight’s Brewery tour which was fantastic. For 90-minutes, Graham, our tour guide (and retired master brewer) took us through the factory to see a tour of all the manufacturing processes including a walk across the skyway between the buildings.
The tour concluded with the chance to taste six Speight’s beers. Although Ted likes a good brew, Sue has steered away from beer, ever since her college days, because she didn’t enjoy the taste. However, the Speight’s beers were so good that Sue nearly liked them all – although cider remains at the top of her pub beverage list.
Lunch at Mac’s Brew Pub at the famous Octogon streets area in central Dunedin was a delightful way to people watch and hear conversations spoken in that lovely New Zealand accent.
We also visited the Cadbury Factory, but the tour was not at all what we had hoped to see – it was more history and examples – not as good as the old Hershey’s factory tour in Oakdale. However, we walked away with a bag with some chocolate, so all is forgiven.
This is our last day in New Zealand, and we are a bit sad to leave this beautiful place where people are gracious, where every citizen gets both basic health coverage and a pension based on their work history. Immigration is based on a scale of things like age, money, ability to work, and wellness – so as not to burden social services for citizens.
We will always treasure the people and places of New Zealand and tuck them away in a special part of our hearts.
Tomorrow we spend much of the day flying to Australia where we will spend the next two weeks.