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Botanic Garden

Established in 1863, Dunedin Botanic Garden is the oldest in New Zealand. From the formal lower gardens to the hillside native forest, the 28 hectares contain over 6,800 plant species. From its earliest days, the Dunedin Botanic Garden has featured a large number of rhododendron species.

The beautiful Edwardian Winter Garden Glasshouse - containing tropicals, sub-tropicals, cacti and succulents - is a feature of the lower garden. For a hands-on experience, the Herb Garden provides a delightful array of scents and textures as well as information on traditional uses for herbs. The formal rose and camellia gardens complete the lower garden, which is beautifully bordered by one of the largest rock gardens in the world as it rambles along the edges of the Lindsay Creek.

Otago Museum

One of the finest museums in the country, the Otago is noted for its Pacific collections of Oceanian art, Polynesian and Melanesian cultural displays, marine life and maritime exhibits, and fine arts collections. In Maori Hall, you'll see a reconstructed meeting house and storehouse, along with exhibits of Maori wearing apparel, tools, carvings, and greenstone articles. The adjacent Hocken Library is a repository of historic New Zealand books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and art.

Located at 419 Great King Street, the museum is open weekdays from 9 A.M. to 4:30 P.m., Saturday from 10:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.m., and Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30 P.M.

Bracken's Lookout

From this viewpoint, northwest of the art gallery, there is a good view of the city center. Thomas Bracken (1843-98) was a poet and politician who wrote the New Zealand national anthem God defend New Zealand.

Dunedin Art Gallery

The Dunedin Art Gallery, a few hundred meters east of the university in Logan Park, has a rich collection of early and modern New Zealand and European art. Of particular interest are numerous works by Frances Hodgkins, brought up in Dunedin, who achieved fame in London only late in life. Her father was one of the founders of the art gallery. The work of Colin McCahon is also well represented.

Olveston

To the west of the Otago Museum, in the city's green belt, is the mansion of Olveston (1906), designed by the English architect Ernest George. Its first owner was David E Theomin, a businessman and art collector who came from Olveston, near Bristol, and settled in Dunedin in 1879.

This sumptuous 35-room mansion in late Victorian style gives some impression of the way of life of the prosperous middle class in the early 20th C. The oak staircase and balustrade were made in England. There are numerous paintings illustrating many aspects of life in colonial New Zealand.

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January - February -> 11C to 18C(°C) - Summer
July - August -> 4C to 10C(°C) - Winter

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