Berthed at the T/U sheds, the warship will be opened to the public from 1pm to about 4pm today.
Its estimated worth was about $130 million, although millions more would be spent increasing its capability in coming months, commanding officer Commander Sean Stewart said.
The only multi-role vessel of its kind in the navy's fleet, Canterbury is 131m long, 23.4m wide and has capacity for 250 troops, in addition to crew.
After a couple of operational incidents, Canterbury was considered less seaworthy than initially specified and, in 2008, it was estimated a further $20 million would need to be spent to achieve the required operational abilities.
"When the ship was built, the contractor was unable to bring the ship up to a specified standard in a number of areas.
"The Crown won a remediation deal with the ship builder, which is funding repairs worth a significant amount of money," Cmdr Stewart said.
Canterbury's fast-boat alcoves would be moved further forward and higher on the ship, after problems with water entering and the boats being ripped out in heavy seas.
The ship's landing craft would be worked on and its medical facilities upgraded, among other repairs and maintenance work expected to take a few months.
"She will come out the end of it in really good shape," Cmdr Stewart said.
Navigating the Otago Harbour proved tricky, as in certain parts there was just 1m of clearance under the props.
"That's about as close as I would like it.
"Coming between the islands, we didn't have much room either side, but we couldn't have asked for better weather conditions," Cmdr Stewart said.
Befitting tradition for the warship's first visit to Dunedin, a crew member donned a kilt and "piped the ship in" as it neared the wharf, he said.
From Dunedin it would visit the Chatham Islands, Christchurch, Wellington and Napier before returning to the Devonport naval base at the end of July.
It carried about 120 personnel on the present deployment, but had room for up to 350.
The ship is scheduled to depart about 8am on Monday.
