You know, mocking Dunedin is nearly a bit too easy. As if the brave inhabitants of this small- to medium-size University town wouldn’t struggle enough already with their image as the last bathroom before the Antarctica (shush, Invercargill!), their silly dialect, and – since the demise of K.C.’s –, the lack of any classy night life joint.

Don’t get me started on the other past Dunedin oddities.

Then again, some entity must have signed the permission for the erection of these stone “molars” in Dunedin’s harbour. Somebody… – or should I say thing? – thought that 6 roughly sculptured stone… thingies next to a quite magnificient harbour basin would enrich this place. And let me guess: thy name was city council, wasn’t it!

Well, poor senseless council thing: you erred. A little rule of thumb for the next times: tartar-shaped ropes are fairly reliable indicators for poorly developed artistic visions.

Google Maps Location (so far, without molars)

Photo © 2011 Carolyn Guytonbeck of Totally Wired. Great shot, Carolyn, thanks a lot!

This explains sooooooooo much! If not everything.

Google Maps Location.

Admittedly, South Dunedin isn’t the wealthiest region of New Zealand. But these donation bin drive-by robberies… guys, this is just ridiculous!

Here today, gone tomorrow… actually, gone a couple days ago. Forbury Park building, Dunedin.

Happy new year! We celebrated with a couple of rockets, a pint of kerosine and these magnesium torches… be careful with the matches… no, really, they are… ARGH!!

Update: Google Maps Location

Merry Christmas! Dog monument next to Taeiri Gorge rail tracks. Half way between Dunedin and Middlemarch.

Hold the press! Update! Reader Snuff provided perplexing new research! Firstly, a link/reminder to the fabulous “faithful dog Hachikō”, featured in two very touching movies. And secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, a great new close-up of Susan.

Ahh, good ol’ South Dunedin! Today with one of these spots that will kill a couple of pedestrians by collapsing some day soon. And one of the spots that have mayor Peter Chin written all over them. Shrieking, with The Joker-like voice, “Fuck it! Fuck it ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hard!!”

Photo © 2009 Scott Savage.

Holding up these and many other walls are gabion baskets. They look like a bad art school project about industry vs nature, or some such. Here they are decorated with massive bolts. This is a pretty main route for tourism and freight, and the main route to many satellite communities. All the architects and urban designers were on holiday when they were planning this retaining wall, so the engineers just cracked on with it anyway.

Photo © 2009 Alex Gilks.

Today, without further ado, three breathtakingly beautiful shots of Dunedin, also known as the last pit stop before… Invercargill. Touching once again the question if someone’s beauty may be somebody else’s uglyness.

Ain’t that bad, that chinese garden. Here 80% of the highlights on one shot.