Today we had a city tour of Dunedin followed by a tour of Larnach Castle. Dunedin (pronounced dun-ed-in with a short e as in Edinburgh) is a big town, about 150,000 when all the students (25,000) are here. It's probably our least favorite since there doesn't seem to be much charm. The areas around the universities are quite messy with the students living in houses in the neighborhoods and keeping them run down as they tend to do - cars parked in yards and old couches on the grass, etc. The Cadbury factory closed down a few years ago which had a hit on the local economy. There is a lovely old train station, but too many old warehouses that are kind of a blight.
Then we went to Larnach Castle, a huge home built by William Larnach in the 1870s - early 1880s. He called it The Camp. His first wife died at 37 of "apoplexy" leaving 6 children so he married her half sister who also died at 37 from complications after surgery for fibroid tumors. His young third wife outlived him, but he found out that she was having an affair with his younger son and he was going bankrupt in 1899 so he shot himself. The kids sued the scandalous son and stepmom and inherited all of what was left of the estate. The house, which cost about $150,000 to build was sold to the government for $5,000 and turned into a "lunatic asylum", then a home for wounded soldiers after the wars, then fell into disrepair before a local family bought it and refurbished it and the gardens. They don't live there now. Beautiful, but a tragic story.
This afternoon we had a nice nap and then off to afternoon trivia. Then another early night to the cabin instead of the show. Tonight is supposed to be kind of windy and rough and tomorrow is sailing in the fiords, weather permitting.
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