Bottom Bus - Queenstown to Dunedin

On our Kiwi Experience we have the 'Deep South' pass that allows us to travel to the very southern part of New Zealand on the 'Bottom Bus' (having re-read this we realise how much this is an innuendo minefield). However we were delayed in starting our journey due to black ice closing the road into Queenstown, which our bus sat still on for 2-3 hours whilst we did the same on the sofa at our hostel.

Soon enough however our Kiwi-snowboarding-driver, Reece, picked us up and we were on our way. The bus' diesel engine throbbing and the sun heating our skin as Reece sought to make up lost time on the road.

We returned through the Kawarau Gorge until the snow capped mountains moved backwards onto the horizon and rolling sheep littered pastures filled the roadside landscape. However no sooner had we departed from the alpine scenery than it returned whiter than before. Snow lay in the fields whilst the mountains drew closer and closer to us. For moments everything on the land became a shade of white, lit by the sun in a clear sky. Then the snow and mountains began to recede leaving tiger stripes of exposed hillside.

Colours changed again as brown farmland became alpine green and black angry clouds merged in the heavens. Rain pelted the windscreen whilst a crosswind rocked the bus. Engine braking down slalom roads before accelerating hard to crest hilltop bends we slowly made our way to the city of Dunedin.

Turning the final corner in the dark we were welcomed by the city's lights below. Through the Victorian streets we arrived at our hostel, which sits above a Scottish bar and pool hall. Dunedin has a strong Scottish heritage, being originally founded by the Free Church of Scotland in the 1840s and the name means Edinburgh in Gaelic. We will be here for the next 3 days and there seems to be lots to see and do in this university city.Read more