This Stop should be completed by 12.00pm latest (45 mins visiting time max, both stops inclusive)
You will have 45 minutes to visit both Toitu (the Chinese Gold Mining exhibition in particular), and the Dunedin Chinese Gardens.
Note: We highly recommend the purchase of "The Journey to Lan Yuan", which can be found on DVD at both Toitu and the Chinese Gardens. Produced by Toitu, and presented by Museum curator, Sean Brosnahan, the cost is approximately $20, well worth it's purchase price due to the rich history it contains on the Chinese in Dunedin.
Below: The Toitū Otago Settlers Museum is a regional history museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. Its brief covers the territory of the old Otago Province, that is, New Zealand from the Waitaki River south, though its main focus is the city of Dunedin. It is New Zealand's oldest history museum. The museum underwent extensive renovations during 2011 and 2012, reopening to the public with a new name, Toitū Otago Settlers Museum in December 2012. Source: Wikipedia
Below, Dunedin Chinese Gardens: The garden is named Lan Yuan (蘭園). This was specifically chosen as it was considered to be significant on a number of levels. The character lan (蘭) is the third character in the Chinese name for New Zealand (niu xi lan, 紐西蘭), as well as being part of the name of the Yulan magnolia, popularly thought of as the flower of Dunedin's sister city Shanghai [Note that, by itself, 蘭 means 'orchid']. In the booklet about the garden, it is called "The Garden of Enlightenment".
The garden commemorates the contribution of Chinese people to the history and culture of Dunedin. The city has long had a Chinese population, with many Cantonese people settling in and around Dunedin at the time of the Central Otago Gold Rush in the 1860s, only some 15 years after the city was founded.