What I have always found slightly confusing about Tunnel Beach is that it is there at all. As spectacular and interesting as Tunnel Beach is, it is hard to imagine the Cargill children getting excited by a visit. Let me explain. Tunnel Beach was commissioned to be built for John Cargill and his family in the 1870s. This was so that his family could visit a private beach, away from the ‘peeping’ eyes of the general public. To me, this is where the confusion starts to happen. To get to the beach his family would have had to go by either foot, cart or horse alongside the high, steep cliffs, which couldn’t have been a pleasant trip. The beach is shaded by the sun from the steep cliffs and is small and rocky with a small low tide window. Hardly a place you could spend all afternoon at while the kids built sandcastles! So, somehow I can’t imagine the Cargill children leaping with joy when their father would announce they are ‘going to the beach’ for the day. According to Local legend, Tunnel Beach is the scene of a tragic drowning. The story goes that after John Cargill made the private beach for his family, one of his daughters drowned there on her sixteenth birthday at high tide. Overcome with grief, John Cargill was so heartbroken that he left New Zealand and never returned. However, there are no sources to prove this story is true. John's Blog https://fromasmallcity.nz/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
Once you’ve lived in Dunedin for a while, there are certain assumptions about the place that you just come to accept. One is that it's cold and raining all the time with absolutely no distinction between winter and summer. Another is that there really isn’t much to do and yet another is that the students are always drunk and if you leave a couch unattended on Castle Street and it magically transforms into a smoldering pile of ash, you’ve got no-one to blame but yourself. If you mention to anyone north of the Waitaki River that you plan on spending some time in Dunedin, you’ll inevitably find yourself in a conversation that includes the words drab, cold and ordinary. You’ll find yourself being advised to pack a rain jacket, an extra layer of clothing and maybe spend some time visiting Central Otago. Personally, I take a different view. I find it a place of wonder, curiosity and energy. Yes, it can be cold at times but you don’t live in Dunedin for the weather. There’s a warmth to the city that is all together pleasant with an unwritten charm. Or, as the city's Scottish founders might say, ‘it’s a bonnie wee place.’ It’s a place that celebrates the Bagpipes, Kilts, Haggis and Oatcakes. There are traditional Scottish Whisky Bars, an annual celebration to poet Robbie Burns and plenty of street names that have been taken from the Scottish Capital City. It even has its own tartan! And if that isn’t worth celebrating, I don’t know what is! I recently had arrived home from my summer holidays, and now considering myself a local tourist, I set about planning how on earth I was going to post a new photo every day on my blog for an entire year in an effort to rediscover what it is I love so much about Dunedin. I had camera gear to check, Spotify playlists to adjust and just enough time left in the day to walk to the Dunedin wharf and Steamer Basin. John's Blog https://blog.caswellimages.com/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
I spent the afternoon strolling through the streets that surround Dunedin’s wharf with no real purpose. It had turned into one of those typical summer days in Dunedin where the light misty rain and 12 degree temperature was occasionally spoiled with patches of blue sky and a general feeling of warmth. I do like walking around Dunedin very much, I think it’s because I do it so little that I’m always surprised with what I find. On this occasion as I turned a corner I came across a piece of street art by someone called Stickum. It was a bright and lovely mural that highlighted all the different cultures and people which settled in the area. That, or the artist wanted to paint a massive Octopus and needed to find some other ways to make it relevant. As I stood taking it in, a Holden Colorado 4WD came around the corner and gave me half a dozen friendly blasts of his horn to remind me that standing in the road wasn’t a good idea. In response, I was tempted to point out that I was only taking up a meter or two of space and that we in actual fact drive on the left hand side of the road in Aotearoa with a speed limit of less than 80km in the inner city, however as I wasn’t feeling particularly brave, I withheld a friendly and I poilently moved. That’ll show ‘em! John's Blog https://blog.caswellimages.com/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
