We spent my 63rd birthday in delightful Dunedin, New Zealand.

St Paul's Cathedral (1915-2003) is an Anglican cathedral church located in the heart of the city. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Dunedin and the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin. It was the perfect spot to sit, reflect, and launch our day.

A must was a visit to the Railway Station (1906), a prominent landmark and tourist site in town. It is speculated by locals to be the most photographed building in the country, as well as the second most photographed in the southern hemisphere, after the Sydney Opera House.

It was designed by George Troup, in the Flemish Renaissance style, and it is his most famous design. It earned Troup the nickname of "Gingerbread George". WOW.

Behind me is the amazing Law Courts building. Dunedin's first permanent Court House and Prison were built on a narrow shelf of reclaimed land at the foot of Bell Hill in 1859. The Court House and Prison were part of the first group of public buildings which accompanied Dunedin's development from a struggling settlement to an established town. Both buildings were replaced by the present Law Courts and adjacent Police Station which were designed by the Government Architect John Campbell and built between 1895 and 1902. The architecture here is absolutely stunning and can attest to the success of the Gold Rush.

Here, too, we met Robert Burns. Born 1759 in Ayrshire, Scotland, he overcame poverty to become the National Poet of Scotland and is remembered worldwide for his poetry and song, written in Scots and English. Among his masterpieces are Auld Lang Syne, A Red, Red Rose and Scots Wha Hae. He died in 1796 and is immortalized in Dunedin's first public sculpture, unveiled in 1887. Interestingly, the poet's nephew, the Rev Thomas Burns, was a co-founder of the Otago settlement (1848) and Presbyterian minister of Dunedin's First Church.

Lunch was at Speicht's Ale House on the site of the original brewery from 1887. So delicious and so cool.

We concluded our day with the Bays, Beaches, & Views tour offered by Back to Nature Tours. For three hours we were driven around Dunedin, hitting, briefly, on all the highlights. One of the most magical spots was the Otago Peninsula.

Coolest seaweed ever!

I was made to feel very special on this birthday. I even had two 'cakes'. What fun!

So far, New Zealand is helping all my birthday wishes to come true! Fantastic.

Our 4th day of being at sea introduced us to New Zealand with sensational scenes of the Sounds (technically fjords).  Three sounds were explored today and we were awestruck by each one of them. 

Fiordland National Park is in the southwest of New Zealand’s South Island. "For first-time visitors and lifelong natives alike, Milford Sound is one of the most immediately breathtaking places in New Zealand and one of the country's top attractions. Called the 8th wonder of the world by Rudyard Kipling, this 14-mile-long fjord is dominated by beautiful Mitre Peak and calmed by gorgeous waters that mirror the sheer peaks surrounding them." Though we entered in pelting rain, brisk wind, and little calmness, it did not take much imagination to figure out what Kipling was referencing. Wow.