The following is a gallery of photographs from my visit to Dunedin & Invercargill in April—May 2010.

Most of the images are city-views or landscapes. I generally avoided photographing people as I couldn't see much difference between typical Southlanders and Sydneysiders =)

Image Gallery

dunedin

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  University of Otago Buildings

  (Apr 2010) • 192.6 KB • GPS: 45:51:50S, 170:30:52E

  UoO Centre for Innovation [1] and Registry Building Clocktower [2], on opposing sides of the Water of Leith.

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  University of Otago Willows

  (Apr 2010) • 306.7 KB • GPS: 45:51:56S, 170:30:51E

  Willow trees along the banks of the Water of Leith [1].

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  Night Views

  (Apr 2010) • 142.9 KB • GPS: 45:52:28S, 170:30:14E

  Dunedin on a Friday night. The Edwardian Railway station (top) and some cafés at the Octogon.

  It was a pretty cold, but I was surprised at how deserted everything was at 9pm.

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  Road Markings

  (Apr 2010) • 251.6 KB • GPS: 45:52:35S, 170:30:31E

  Hard to make sense of these Otago footpath markings. Presumably the lefthand sign means: This Way if You Wish to Escape a Bicycle. Whereas the righthand sign appears to prohibit well-trained puppies…

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  Gallery & Museum

  (May 2010) • 151.7 KB • GPS: 45:52:28S, 170:30:10E

  Interior views of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery [1] & Otago Musuem [2].

  Much to my surprise the DPAG had a pretty good mix of exhibits, including an extensive display of Taryn Simon's American Index photographs [3]. OTOH I found the Otago Museum a bit dull, although the Moa skeletons were impressive [4]. BTW the larger one is the female.

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  Office Buildings

  (May 2010) • 138.4 KB • GPS: 45:52:23S, 170:30:13E

  Dunedin isn't just a collection of pretty Victorian and Edwardian buildings. There are quite a few Concrete Box Masterpieces as well…

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  Otago Farmers Market

  (May 2010) • 132.2 KB • GPS: 45:52:29S, 170:30:36E

  The Farmers Market [1] is held every Saturday morning in the Railway Station car-park. Since they mostly sell foodstuffs, I didn't stay very long. BTW you can see the white exterior of the Cadbury chocolate factory [2] in the RHS background.

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  Moray Place Café

  (Apr 2010) • 197.2 KB • GPS: 45:52:31S, 170:30:09E

  Occasionally you can find places which still have a bit of 1930's art-deco charm [1] …

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  Victorian Gothic Windows

  (Apr 2010) • 175.7 KB • GPS: 45:52:27S, 170:29:56E

  Top: St Dominic's Priory on Smith Street. Bottom: the southern side of St Paul's Anglican Cathedral on Stuart Street [1], near the Octagon [2].

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  Great War Memorials

  (May 2010) • 204.6 KB • GPS: 45:52:40S, 170:30:15E

  I found these memorials in both Invercargill (left [1]) and Dunedin. I visited them barely a week after Anzac Day [2], hence the floral tributes.

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  University of Otago Entrance

  (Apr 2010) • 287 KB • GPS: 45:51:59S, 170:30:39E

  With approximately 20 000 students, the University [1] has a huge (IMO positive) impact on the city and its culture.

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  Suburban Buildings

  (May 2010) • 204.1 KB • GPS: 45:51:24S, 170:31:07E

  View Street Apartments and The Winter Garden glasshouse at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens.

  Baldwin Street isn't the only steep road in the city, with View Street [1] behind the Octagon being a bit of a hike as well. The glasshouse [2] is part of the Botanic Gardens. Apparently it was broken into a month earlier to steal the decoration on top of the dome [3].

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  Albany Street Crossing

  (Apr 2010) • 130.3 KB • GPS: 45:51:58S, 170:30:29E

  Corner of Albany and George Streets.

  Apparently Dunedin city planners like to amuse themselves by creating Neoplasticist Pedestrian Landscapes.

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  Art Deco Buildings

  (May 2010) • 111.5 KB • GPS: 45:52:42S, 170:30:18E

  The "Fortress" is located [1] near Speight's brewery, and is now the Adventurer Backpackers Lodge [2].

  The "NZR" building used to be a railway workers garage — now it is the southern end of the Otago Settler's Museum [3].

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  Industrial Chimneys

  (May 2010) • 151.5 KB • GPS: 45:52:18S, 170:30:36E

  Dunedin Energy Centre on Castle Street and Speight's Brewery [1].

  The DEC has four steam boilers, with a total 30 MW thermal capacity, and pumps steam through pipes to the hospital, Cadburys, the University of Otago and other businesses [2]. It also supplied heating to the apartment across the road where your thermodynamics–fanboy stayed [3].

  Speight's Brewery [4] is located on the site of a natural spring. Its owners cut a deal with the city to use the water to make beer, provided they also supplied a free water-tap for public access.

  This explained why I saw a woman filling up jerry-cans on the street outside the brewery one Sunday morning. I thought she was grabbing factory seconds beer, but instead she told me about the spring-water compromise. When I joked about Sending Women Out To Fetch Water, she remarked that it was even more primitive than that, because while she was getting water her husband was out shooting ducks [5]…

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  Cumberland Street Overpass

  (May 2010) • 68.4 KB • GPS: 45:52:48S, 170:30:12E

  The Jetty Street flyover. Taken late on a Saturday afternoon, when the city was practically deserted.

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  City Views

  (May 2010) • 150 KB • GPS: 45:52:35S, 170:30:03E

  Suburbia (top) and the southern part of the city, taken from the car-park next to the Ex Salvation Army Fortress [1].

  The Safety-Last design of the car-park amazed me: it ended in a 10m drop onto buildings below and yet there were absolutely no guardrails.

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  Baldwin Street Homes

  (Apr 2010) • 170.3 KB • GPS: 45:50:58S, 170:32:05E

  Suburban bungalows on either side of Baldwin Street [1].

  The place is a bit of a tourist trap, so locals no doubt regard camera-wielding street–climbers with some weariness [2].

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  Baldwin Street Top

  (Apr 2010) • 196.1 KB • GPS: 45:50:60S, 170:32:07E

  The upper part of Baldwin Street is claimed to be the steepest gradient in the world [1].

  The day I visited it was (of course) pouring rain, so I was lucky to get a few minutes of sunshine when returning from the summit.

invercargill

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  Fastest Indian/ Munro Specials

  (May 2010) • 124.1 KB • GPS: 46:24:29S, 168:20:49E

  Southland is Burt Munro Country, and don't you forget it.

  A portion of the 2005 Hollywood movie World's Fastest Indian [1] was filmed nearby. Consequently there are now three Munro Special motorbikes on display in Invercargill — one is located in the Southland Museum [2], the other is at the Cambridge Place Arcade (photo top) [3], while the original is in the Hayes Hardware store (photo bottom) [4].

  (It's just a motorbike, right?…)

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  Queens Park

  (May 2010) • 201.7 KB • GPS: 46:24:08S, 168:21:19E

  Queens is a large and beautiful park behind the Southland Museum. Parts of it are overly manicured, while other parts are left wild.

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  Cathederal Architecture

  (May 2010) • 188.1 KB • GPS: 46:24:57S, 168:21:05E

  St. Mary's Basilica [1] & First Presbyterian Church [2]. I was surprised at the large number of churches in such a small city. The basilica amazed me because I didn't think there were enough Catholics to justify so grand a church in such a Scotch Presbyterian stronghold. OTOH the First Presbyterian [3] looked like a clone of a romanesque Catholic cathedral!

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  Wool-store For Lease

  (May 2010) • 225.1 KB • GPS: 46:25:09S, 168:20:36E

  New Zealand is overrun by more than 40 million sheep [1]. So it struck me as odd that this enormous wool-shed was empty and For Lease.

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  Southland Museum Tuatara

  (May 2010) • 189 KB • GPS: 46:24:20S, 168:21:13E

  The Southland Museum is famous for its Tuatara display [1]. These lizard-like creatures are fascinating in that they will stand perfectly still for hours. As far as I can tell, the only difference between them and the statue outside is that the latter makes a ringing sound when struck.

  When not being mesmerised by these hypoactive critters, you can also check out one of the Munroe Special motorbike copies [2]. At least it occasionally moves…

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  Tay Street Panorama

  (May 2010) • 396.8 KB • GPS: 46:24:48S, 168:20:55E

  A 200° view from the communal balcony of the apartment where I stayed [1]. Tay Street is one of Invercargill's major thoroughfares, and this was taken between rain squalls during the evening rush-hour (!)

  Tech note: the panorama is a composite of 10× images stitched together. The master image is approximately 40 megapixels — you can easily read the car license numbers or count the number of greeting cards slotted into the venetian blinds of one of the office building windows.

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  Rail Freight

  (May 2010) • 109.4 KB • GPS: 46:24:41S, 168:20:43E

  There was a lot of rail infrastructure in Invercargill, but after the 1980s downturn it all seemed incredibly under-utilised [1].

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  New River Estuary

  (May 2010) • 149.8 KB • GPS: 46:25:11S, 168:20:14E

  Views of the lagoon from Stead Street Wharf [1], looking south towards Bluff approx. 20kms away. Ships used to dock here but the estuary kept silting up, so after a few years a decision was made to move things out to the coast.

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  Water Tower Tree

  (May 2010) • 225.5 KB • GPS: 46:24:25S, 168:21:39E

  A tree beside the famous Invercargill Water Tower [1], showing the impact of life in the Roaring Forties.

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  Temple Architecture

  (May 2010) • 106.4 KB • GPS: 46:24:43S, 168:21:14E

  Southland Freemasons Centre [1] & Central Baptist Church [2]. Again I was surprised by the number and variety of prominent religious buildings in such a small city [3].

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  Skies & Rooftops

  (May 2010) • 110.6 KB • GPS: 46:24:44S, 168:21:01E

  Invercargill is a coastal town at 46.41° south. Which places it well within the Roaring Forties and makes the weather incredibly unpredictable. In a typical day you can go from bright sunshine to pouring rain within an hour.

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  Stirling Point International Signpost

  (May 2010) • 78.7 KB • GPS: 46:36:48S, 168:21:25E

  On the Sunday night before returning to Sydney, I befriended a couple of Hungarian Women at an Indian restaurant. During dinner I mentioned how hard it was to get to Bluff if you don't drive, so they offered to give me a ride. On a rainy windswept night, complete strangers, off we went…

  This is a photo of the International Signpost, which is pretty much the end of the line for South Island [1].

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  Southland Kelts

  (May 2010) • 123.6 KB • GPS: 46:24:42S, 168:21:11E

  The Scottish Hall & a blackboard display outside a convenience store. Many Southlanders wear their Scottish/ UK heritage on both sleeves and kilt [1].

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  Invercargill Nightlife

  (May 2010) • 155.7 KB • GPS: 46:24:42S, 168:20:46E

  Elite Ladies Massage Parlour and Civic Theatre complex [1]. While I was in town the Civic Theatre [2] was never open, while the brothel never seemed to close [3]…

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  Street Scenes

  (May 2010) • 121.8 KB • GPS: 46:24:27S, 168:21:36E

  Walking around the town in the middle of a working day, I was astonished at how deserted it was.

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  Duck Shooting Season

  (May 2010) • 170.3 KB • GPS: 46:24:48S, 168:20:58E

  A book display at the Invercargill library and H&J's Outdoor World shopfront window.

  The highlight of Southland Cultural Life is Duck Shooting Season [1].

  As one gentleman in an orange beanie put it during a TV interview: Y'know. Have a few beers. Have a few laughs with the mates. Shoot a few ducks…

  (Well, most of the time [2] …)

taieri gorge railway

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  Taieri Gorge & River

  (May 2010) • 202.6 KB • GPS: 45:41:44S, 170:18:04E

  Views of the Taieri River [1] and gorge.

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  Pukerangi Rail Crossing

  (May 2010) • 143.5 KB • GPS: 45:38:05S, 170:12:35E

  Pukerangi is the end of the line [1]. The train stops for 15 minutes while the locomotive is shunted to the rear of the train for the return journey.

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  Taieri Gorge Rock-face

  (May 2010) • 230 KB • GPS: 45:40:38S, 170:18:11E

  Dramatic shots of the Taieri Gorge, on the way to Pukerangi.

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  Taieri Gorge Viaduct

  (May 2010) • 243.1 KB • GPS: 45:39:37S, 170:17:05E

  The train-line runs alongside the river on one side of the gorge.

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  DJ Class locomotive

  (May 2010) • 145.2 KB • GPS: 45:41:00S, 170:17:59E

  The front-end of the DJ Class locomotive [1] which pulled the Taieri Gorge train, during a rest stop.

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  Dunedin Station Platform

  (Apr 2010) • 156.6 KB • GPS: 45:52:31S, 170:30:33E

  The platform at Dunedin, showing the Taieri Gorge Railway train [1], which used to be part of the Otago Central Railway [2].

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  Dunedin Station Interior

  (Apr 2010) • 225.9 KB • GPS: 45:52:31S, 170:30:31E

  Interior views of the Edwardian railway station [1]: on the left is an upstairs stained glass window, on the right is the ticket office entrance and steps.

Tech Stuff

All the photos were taken in April-May 2010 using a digital Panasonic Lumix DMC–GF1 camera & 20mm ƒ1.7 ASPH lens.

I shot RAW and converted the images using Hasselblad Phocus. The final conversion to 16-bit TIFF was then done using Photoshop CS.

The Invercargill panorama was taken with the aid of a Nodal-Ninja 3 MkII camera mount, with 10× shots angled down at approx. 20° to capture the street rather than the sky.

Only 40-something images?

Basically yes, although you will notice a lot of them are image-pairs. Altogether I took more than 300 photos, but I feel the current selection adequately covers the trip. Maybe in time I will add a few more cityscapes and more detailed commentary, but that's about it.