City on the Edge of the Pacific

“Nestled in tree-covered hills at the head of a spectacular harbour, Dunedin’s rise to prominence as the gateway to the Otago region came with the discovery of gold at Gabriel’s Gully, to the south-west, in 1861,” Sebastian Kretz writes in a travel piece for Monsters & Critics. “The subsequent gold rush not only led to a rapid influx of population but the region’s wealth also saw the construction of some superb Victorian and Edwardian architecture, including First Church, Larnach Castle, Olveston and the Dunedin railway station. The city on the Pacific is also a centre for ecotourism thanks to the world’s only mainland royal albatross colony and several penguin and seal colonies.”