25 Nov 2018 - Cruise Day 5: The Otagon, Dunedin City Centre

The Octagon is an eight-sided plaza bisected by the city's main street.  It is predominantly a pedestrian reserve, with grass and paved features, and is surmounted by a statue of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Several of Dunedin's significant buildings and institutions adjoin the plaza, which is also a major hub for public transport in Dunedin.

The Octagon's northwestern quadrant lies St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral, which is listed as Category I buildings by the Heritage New Zealand.

St Paul's Cathedral is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin in New Zealand and the seat of the Bishop of Dunedin.

St Paul's Cathedral's organ was built in 1919 by Henry Willis III in London and was installed the following year. In 1972, it was entirely dismantled and repositioned by the South Island Organ Company of Timaru.  The organ has more than 3500 pipes and is often used for civic performances.

Interior view looking at the Memorial Window above the front entrance which reads "This Window was Erected To the Glory of God and in thankful and loving remembrance of those of Otago and Southland who gave their lives in The Great War 1914–1918"

Next we walked towards the southeastern quadrant of the Octagon and arrived at First Church of Otago.  The building is regarded as the most impressive of New Zealand's nineteenth-century churches, and is also listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure.

As there was a Sunday service going on at that time, we did not enter the church.

We continued to explore other parts of Dunedin city centre and came upon a huge supermarket called Countdown.  Its logo seemed to be Woolworth though.  I did some research after that and realized that Countdown is actually a subsidiary of Woolworths.  We bought some snacks and drinks, and also two advent calendars, as requested by Jerlene and Javier.

We then walked back to the Octagon where there were a school band performing right at the city central.  A statue of poet Robert Burns has pride of place in the upper Octagon, with St Paul's Cathedral in the background.

There were other nice buildings along the streets.

At about 3:30pm, we boarded the shuttle bus at the Octagon to return to Port Chalmers.

Our cruise ship was not the only one to dock at the port today.  Golden Princess cruise ship, which we had crossed each other at Milford Sound yesterday, was also here.

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