Larnach Castle

Remember, this was still our first Saturday in Dunedin, and it was a day just jam-packed with activity. I took many pictures at the castle, and being limited to posting five per blog, wanted to give Larnach a fair shake. It still may be worth checking out the main photo site.

If you do, the extras will primarily be pictures of the different plants. The gardens have a large assortment of native plants, and then there is a section of more tropical/desert plants, like aloe vera, and other sorts of plants in between.

There is also a bit of an Alice in Wonderland theme. It is not overpowering, but in addition to the statue of Alice playing croquet, shown above, there is a Cheshire cat, the King of Hearts, and the Duchess, and there is a throne for the Queen of Hearts, which I photographed by itself and with Julie in it. (There are also two photos of Maria in a seat built from a stump, but I could not get her to stop laughing. Maybe I should have quit saying funny things.)

We just kept finding different things. There was a row of arches leading to the castle, but they were not in line with the parking area. Checking the other end, there is a duck pond, and a white statue that you would think is a sleeping duck or swan, but then you read the plaque and it was actually representative of the boat of the soul after death, or some such nonsense. It made so much more sense for it to be a duck. Incidentally, the ducks were busy grazing, and had clipped a narrow border around the pond. Well, why should they get out to eat if they didn't have to?

We wandered around a bit more, and found this small tent-like structure. We thought maybe it was for the ducks, and peeking inside we saw little white feathers, which seemed to back that up. However, turning another corner we found these fluffy white hens, and the tent was their home.

Our admission to the grounds was included with the tour. We could have paid extra to go inside the castle, but ended up not doing so. I did snap a picture of the inside though, and that is up above. I'm sure it would have been fine, but we had places to go and things to do, and I've seen old furniture before.

http://www.larnachcastle.co.nz/index.pasp
http://harristravel.shutterfly.com/788