Dunedin
While in Dunedin I visited an albatross colony and drove the World's Steepest Street
December 6-7, 2004

34-OtagoPeninsulaRoad The Otago Peninsula Road, in Dunedin 35-PeninsulaRoad Otago Peninsula Road 36-OtagoPeninsula Otago Peninsula 37-Beach Otago Harbour 38-Beach-Gulls So many gulls on the beach below 39-GrassyHills Grassy hills on the Otago Peninsula 40-TaiaroaHead Taiaroa Head, Otago Peninsula 41-TaiaroaHead Taiaroa Head & Fort Taiaroa Lighthouse 42-TaiaroaHead Taiaroa Head 43-AlbatrossGroup A group of royal albatrosses at the Taiaroa Head Albatross Colony 44-Cormorants Cormorants at the albatross colony 45-NorthernRoyalAlbatrosses Northern Royal Albatrosses ... these big birds have 3 meter (10 ft) wingspans 46-TwoAlbatross A pair of albatrosses ... the Taiaroa Albatross Colony is the world's only mainland albatross colony, and also the only one to be within the boundaries of a large city (Dunedin), or any town or city for that matter 47-OtagoHarbour Otago Harbour 48-Clouds Clouds 49-FleeingCormorants Cormorants fleeing one of the park rangers who regularly comes out to check on the albatrosses 50-Albatrosses More albatrosses ... these albatross, after spending the first year of their life on land, won't set foot on land again for another four years, before coming back to Taiaroa in the hopes of finding a mate for life ... then they come back every other year to mate and raise their single chick together until it's old enough to survive on its own, and that time they spend is their only time on land during each two-year period 51-FlyingAlbatross Flying albatross ... it was quite the challenge to get a picture even close to this good, with how quickly they were gliding 52-Turret Gun turret at Fort Taiaroa 53-FortTaiaroaTunnelPlan Fort Taiaroa tunnel plan 54-Grass-Lighthouse Grass and the Taiaroa Lighthouse 55-ObservationPost Observation post in Fort Taiaroa 56-Tunnel Tunnel 57-GunRear The loading end of the Fort Taiaroa Disappearing Gun 58-PressureGauge Pressure gauge on the disappearing gun 59-TargetBoard Target board, telling the operators the angle and range to set the gun at 60-AimingPosts Aiming posts, to make sure the gun and sights were aligned properly 61-DisappearingGun Fort Taiaroa Disappearing Gun ... the Disappearing Gun was state-of-the-art technology prior to World War I, and was installed here at Fort Taiaroa to defend Dunedin and Otago Harbour from a feared Russian invasion ... the gun could be cranked up to bring the barrel above ground, and opon firing, the recoil would swing the gun back into place below ground, not providing attackers anything to aim at ... it also had a range of about a mile, if I recall correctly 62-DisappearingGun Disappearing Gun 63-DisappearingGun Disappearing Gun 64-TaiaroaGunModels Taiaroa gun models 65-Shells Some of the shells that were used as ammunition for the various guns around Fort Taiaroa, including the disappearing gun 66-ArmoryShaft Shaft to the armory 67-HarbourDefenceMap Otago Harbour Defence Map 68-SoldierModel Soldier model 69-TaiaroaParaphernalia Taiaroa paraphernalia 70-ModelDorm Model dorm 71-LarnachCastle Larnach Castle, on the Otago Peninsula ... it's New Zealand's oldest castle 72-OtagoHarbour Otago Harbour 73-OtagoHarbour Sunset at Otago Harbour 74-OtagoPeninsula Otago Peninsula 75-Deadwood Deadwood 76-HarbourSunset Otago Harbour Sunset 77-Fence Fence near Larnach Castle 78-Dunedin Dunedin ... Dunedin is Gaelic for Edinburgh, so as you might guess the city was founded by large numbers of Scottish and Gaelic immigrants 79-RegentTheatre Regent Theatre in Dunedin 80-InfoBuilding Info Building 81-StPaulsAnglicanCathedral St Paul's Anglican Cathedral 82-Monument Monument to something 83-GeorgeStreet George Street, Dunedin 84-Dunedin Dunedin 85-StJosephsCathedral St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin 86-Rectory Rectory for St Joseph's Cathedral 87-Dunedin Dunedin 88-Dunedin Dunedin ... it was rather hilly, much like Duluth, Minnesota 89-BaldwinStreet Baldwin Street in Dunedin, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Steepest Street, with a slope of 1 in 2.86 at its steepest! I was wondering if my little rental car would actually make it up it or not, but fortunately it did :-) 90-Jared-BaldwinSt Me, at the top of Baldwin Street 91-BaldwinSt Baldwin Street ... you get out of breath just by walking it, much less jogging or running it ... apparently every year Dunedin holds a Gut Buster Run on Baldwin Street, with prizes going to the person who can run up the hill and back the quickest ... no thanks, not for me! 92-BaldwinSt Baldwin Street 93-WorldsSteepestStreet World's Steepest Street 94-Jared-BaldwinStSign I conquered Baldwin St! 95-BaldwinStInfo Baldwin Street info 96-DunedinTrainStation Dunedin Train Station, one of the cooler buildings I've ever seen

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