And when it was over the tourists cheerfully departed aboard 5-star cruise ship Volendam.
They were passengers on the first all-gay cruise ship to visit New Zealand.
The 10-day cruise left Auckland on Thursday, and has visited Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, on its way to Sydney's Mardi Gras celebrations.
Most of the passengers were Americans, Canadians, Europeans and Australians.
"You have a great city," said Rich Garduno, of Milwaukee, who took photos of many of the buildings in the Octagon area.
Other passengers visited popular tourist attractions in the vicinity.
Canadian passenger Lee Schofield said he and his friends had previously been on several gay cruises, some on ships that carried up to 4000 people.
This was a smaller ship, but they were "loving" seeing New Zealand.
The ship had arrived early in Dunedin, but some spoken to were still recovering from the previous night's entertainment and managed only a few hours in the city before the ship departed again at 4.30pm.
After looking around the central city on foot, American Walt Johnson said he wished they could stay 24 hours.
"I'd like to see what each place is like in the morning, day and night.
It's just a taste we get, but now we know what we want to see when we come back."
He intended to return to New Zealand to see more of the country, as did his friends.
While some passengers with delicate heads were avoiding the pipe band competitions in the Octagon yesterday, Mr Johnson said he found it funny to be at the other side of the world from Scotland and see so many bagpipes.
Leigh Thorup and Don Guterwill, both from San Diego, said they were pleased to bring some good weather with them after less pleasant weather in the North Island.
Fellow cruise passenger Sandy Blumberg, from San Diego, said what they had seen of Dunedin, was "lovely".
He and friend David Coddington, from San Francisco, had visited Cadbury World with friends before going back on board to prepare themselves for last night's "Way Down Under" party on the ship.
