Newcomer checked in to the Dunedin hotel scene yesterday with the official opening of the St Clair Beach Resort.

While guests had been staying at the 26-room boutique since last month, it was officially opened by Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin at a special ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Mr Chin praised the tenacity of Stephen and Janet Chittock and partner Calder Stewart in pursuing their project to completion.

"We all have dreams, but very few of us can bring those to reality," he said.

Click photo to enlarge New face . . . Dunedin Chinese Garden manager Margo Winchester at the facility yesterday. PHOTO: CRAIG BAXTER

Dunedin's Chinese Garden has a new manager, and with numbers well down on a "honeymoon period" last year, Margo Winchester has her work cut out.
 
The previous manager, Siew Gek Sim, left in June, after working at the garden for about a year and a-half.
 
Since then, the garden's four staff, and volunteers, had been running the facility.
 
Last year, the council reported the garden had more than doubled its expected income, taking $122,000 in its first 53 days of operation.
 

Two Dunedin tour operators have teamed up to offer a quirky walk combo.
 
By day, punters can sign up for City Walks' Old Town Heritage Walk or Beautiful Dunedin Scenic Walk, while at night they can step out in search of the supernatural on Hair Raiser Tours' 8pm Ghost Walk or Six Feet Down Under Grave Tour. 
City Walks frontman Athol Parks says Dunedin is an intriguing and beautiful city, with different faces and moods, and stories just waiting to be told. "And it's made for walking with a guide."
 

Click photo to enlarge A dog day in Dunedin . . . Tallulah Belle, a pug Pekingese cross, slips her lead from Clayton Baker during a walk at Opoho Park

If you live in Dunedin, you should perhaps brace yourself for an influx of lycra-clad, bird-loving dog-walkers.
Glowing recommendations from Lonely Planet single out the city as one of the best places in the world to cycle, watch birds and walk your dog.
Dunedin is the only New Zealand city to make the travel company's annual top 10 travel lists - and does so three times.
Otago Peninsula has been named as the top cycling destination in Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2010.

Click photo to enlarge Absorbing the steamy atmosphere at Middlemarch

Twelve-year-old Hamish Bedwell was not going to let a bit of rain stop him travelling from Middlemarch to Dunedin on a motorised jigger.

"I like the jiggers better than the trains," he said, dressed in a yellow oil slicker to keep him dry and warm as the uncovered jigger followed the steam-hauled train back to the city yesterday.

The Dunedin boy and his father were two of thousands who travelled to Middlemarch for a Labour Weekend train festival.

Click photo to enlarge Absorbing the steamy atmosphere at Middlemarch

Twelve-year-old Hamish Bedwell was not going to let a bit of rain stop him travelling from Middlemarch to Dunedin on a motorised jigger.

"I like the jiggers better than the trains," he said, dressed in a yellow oil slicker to keep him dry and warm as the uncovered jigger followed the steam-hauled train back to the city yesterday.

The Dunedin boy and his father were two of thousands who travelled to Middlemarch for a Labour Weekend train festival.

Click photo to enlarge Windows of opportunity . . . Taking two different approaches to their Taieri Gorge Railway suburban train trip

HUNDREDS of Dunedin children experienced good oldfashioned school holiday entertainment in the form of a train trip yesterday.

Taieri Gorge Railway ran three suburban trains between Dunedin and Mosgiel, Dunedin and Port Chalmers, and Dunedin, Purakaunui and Waitati.

Chief executive Murray Bond said about 1000 people, including a school holiday group, used the service.

Magic Childcare supervisor Don Crowl said about 90 children from the scheme travelled, and the trip was considered a ‘‘highlight of the programme’’.

Click photo to enlarge

From tomorrow, passengers travelling on the Taieri Gorge Railway's summer Seasider trains can choose to board the "Orokonui Express" and combine the trip with a guided tour of Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

The Seasider train usually offers a half-day trip between Dunedin and Palmerston on 46 days through the summer.

Those booking for the Orokonui experience will travel by train from Dunedin to Waitati, and then transfer to a 22-seater bus for their trip to the eco-sanctuary.

Click photo to enlarge

From tomorrow, passengers travelling on the Taieri Gorge Railway's summer Seasider trains can choose to board the "Orokonui Express" and combine the trip with a guided tour of Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

The Seasider train usually offers a half-day trip between Dunedin and Palmerston on 46 days through the summer.

Those booking for the Orokonui experience will travel by train from Dunedin to Waitati, and then transfer to a 22-seater bus for their trip to the eco-sanctuary.

Traditional Maori food and a contemporary Maori art centre are among the ideas to come out of a new report on the potential of Maori tourism for Dunedin.

The research report, commissioned by the Dunedin City Council with the support of the University of Otago, reveals more than a third of tourists visiting the city wanted a genuine Maori cultural experience.

The 59-page study, The Potentials of Maori Cultural Tourism Products in Otepoti Dunedin, written by Jeurgen Gnoth, Daniel Gnoth and Suzanne Boyes, concludes that the potential for Maori tourism products was "immense".