Dunedin Terrace is one of the steep, foot-traffic only access-ways that are scattered across Wellington. The kind that the casual visitor pauses halfway up and offers a heartfelt prayer of thanks that it is not they that has to haul the weekly groceries up the extended switchback. Located in the hillside suburb of Melrose, it is a natural assumption that the street was named for the City of Dunedin by a town-planner experiencing a burst of patriotic pride; there is, after all, also an Auckland Terrace not far away (although it is possible to drive up that one). However, if this was, in fact, the theme, then it was a short-lived one; there is no sign of any streets named for Christchurch, Hamilton, or any other major NZ city anywhere else at all in the suburb. Wellington Road, at the north end of Kilbernie is the nearest such (any suggestion that Houghton Bay Road fits the criteria will be met with raised eyebrows).
The City of Dunedin, the commercial centre of Otago, and second largest city in the South Island, was named for Dùn Èideann, the Scots-Gaelic name for Scotlands capital city, Edinburgh (as was also the city of Dunedin, in Florida, and the settlement of Dunedin, Ontario). This was, of course, due to the influence of the Free Church of Scotland in the establishment of the Otago Settlement in 1848. The city today stretches around the head of the Otago Harbour and up into the surrounding ring of hills. It is perhaps best known for the presence of Otago University, New Zealand’s oldest, and the associated vibrant student culture (Otago students are known throughout the country as “Scarfies”). Landmarks include The Octagon, in the city centre, the Dunedin Railway Station (officially built in a Flemish Renaissance style, but known rather more informally as “the gingerbread palace”), and the world’s officially steepest street, Baldwin St (a title recently reclaimed from Ffordd Pen Llech, in Wales, on a technicality).
Another possible contender for the naming origin of Dunedin Terrace is a ship with its own claim to fame in New Zealand history. The Dunedin was built in Port Glasgow, Scotland, in 1874, as one of six Auckland class emigrant vessels, capable of carrying 400 passengers from Britain to New Zealand in under 100 days. Despite her name, most of her voyages to New Zealand terminated at either Auckland or Lyttelton. The voyage for which she is most well-known, however, did start at Port Chalmers in the Otago Harbour. In 1881, the Dunedin was fitted with a steam-driven refrigeration unit, allowing her holds to be kept at sub-zero temperatures even in the tropics. In early 1882, she departed Port Chalmers for London with a frozen cargo of 4331 mutton, 598 lamb and 22 pig carcasses, 250 kegs of butter, hare, pheasant, turkey, chicken, and 2226 sheep tongues. She made the voyage in 98 days. The cargo was sold in the Smithfield Market, causing consternation amongst local butchers due to the superior quality of the frozen meat. This shipment effectively started the refrigerated meat industry, and led to the reshaping of New Zealand’s agriculture, economy, and, to a large extent, society, for nearly 100 years. The Dunedin made another nine refrigerated voyages, before disappearing in the Southern Ocean in 1890. No trace of the ship was ever found.
Finally, the last possible contender for the naming of Dunedin Terrace is another ship that claims a rather more humanitarian record in New Zealand history. The HMS Dunedin was a Danae class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, built in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1918, and commissioned in 1919. Like the city in New Zealand, she was named for Scots-Gaelic name for Edinburgh (the only vessel of the RN to have ever borne the name). Her first decade of service was mainly escort duty. However, she was visiting New Zealand in 1931, at the time of the Napier earthquake, and was an integral part, along with HMS Veronica and HMS Diomede, in providing rapid transport of emergency items, food, shelter, and a team of doctors and nurses from Auckland to the stricken city, an action that is credited with keeping the death toll much lower than it might have been. She went on to active duty in the Caribbean and Atlantic during WWII. Of particular interest to geocaching cipher buffs, in 1941 the Dunedin captured the German tanker Lothringen, which happened to be carrying several Enigma machines. This contributed to the breaking of the Enigma Code, used by Nazi Germany to protect communications, which in turn contributed to the hastening of the end of the war. The Dunedin itself did not survive until then; she was torpedoed off the coast of Brazil later in 1941. Of her crew of 486, only 67 survived the sinking.
The Cache
The cache is a bison tube, please BYOP. Parking at either end of the access-way can be difficult, but please refrain from blocking resident's private parking areas. There is a bus stop immediately adjacent to the upper end of Dunedin Terrace, on Hornsey Road. There is no need to leave the footpath in order to reach the cache. Once logging is complete, please return the cache to its hiding place and ensure that it is hidden from a casual gaze. Stealth is required, as pedestrians are known to use this path at any time of the day or night.