Happy New Year's 2008 from Dunedin, NZ

Happy New Years! It is now 9:30 in the morning on January 1 - although you folks in Canada as still awaiting your celebrations.

We landed in New Zealand on the 30th late in the day after a whole of day of 3 flights to get here. It was cold and raining when we arrived, and with Mike having been sick with the flu for over a week, we did not start the NZ journey on a high note.

But we awoke on Dec 31 to a beautiful sunny day, and although it was cool, it made all the difference to see the sun after so many days of clouds and rain.

Dunedin is an interesting town as it is laid out around a central octagon. And Robbie Burns overlooks the centre of it all - this is a very Scottish town. The nephew of Robbie Burns was one of the founding fathers of the city.

The city is built on mountains - note that I don't call them hills! and even skateboarders need a motor in this environment :-). The architecture is very interesting - a lot of gothic and 18th/19th century buildings most which have been well maintained.

In the morning we headed out to a local 'minor' attraction - Tunnel Beach. It was at the end of non-descript road - and it was incredible. You can see the limestone point in the photo. But what you can't see is the tunnel that has worked through the rock to the beach below. You walk right through the rock to the beach below and it really is an awesome 'freak' of nature. And of course there are sheep and green grass everywhere!

We also checked out the steepest street in the world - I did mention that it is built on mountains! The gradient is at one point 1 in 2.81 - which is ridiculous! As you can see, I even end up taller than Kyle standing right beside him!
We celebrated in the town octagon in Dunedin with several other thousand people - locals and tourists both. We had a marvelous meal - the smoked salmon is fantastic here. Followed by a great dessert (as photoed here).

The octagon was home to lots of entertainment - there was a real mixed band playing for the whole evening.

And at midnight we had live piper playing Auld Lang Syne and lots of fireworks. A very memorable New Years.

So hopefully the sunny weather will signal a healthier Michael and it will help Kyle overcome his car sickness.