Scotland of the South

Our first day in Dunedin was spent running errands. Hugo, jealous of my new phone, decided to also buy a phone, and whilst he was at it, bought a shaver, too. Hugo went to get a haircut whilst I searched in vain for kiwi themed Christmas cards. Lonely planet had recommended a burger joint, Velvet  Burger, so we took the advice. We received two huge burgers and were only charged for one. Being the honest citizens we are,  we 'fessed up, and to our delight, the waitress informed us it was 2for1 that day. It also happened to be the day that the 'dairy’ (NZ word for newsagents) was selling ice creams for $1 that day, hooray! We had a boysenberry ice cream, which was pretty good.

Dunedin is a student city with shops, restaurants and a few attractions. It also has hills to rival Sheffield, and unfortunately we missed visiting the steepest street in the world. There is a Scottish influence here, with school kids wearing kilts as uniform and several shops selling Scottish souvenirs. Before we knew it, the day had passed so we decided to stay nearby so that we could explore more of Dunedin the following day. We camped overnight at St Clair’s, enjoying an evening walk to the beach.

The following morning was an arty affair, with a look around a local art fair and a visit to the art gallery opposite. I purchased a canvas bag in the gallery shop, and we then explored the exhibition by NZ artist, Gordon Walters, whose works are a series of geometric Maori patterns in various colour combinations. Once finished, we continued the hunt for Xmas cards (don't seem to be very common here!) and eventually found a suitable pack. We sat and wrote them in the 30 degree heat as we sat outside having lunch at Mac’s Brew Bar. Just as we finished, a teacher with a group of students started performing Maori songs and a haka, they sounded great! There was just enough time before the parking ticket ran out to go to the post office to send a Christmas parcel home and post our cards. We drove down to the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum to learn about the history of the area. It is here we learnt that kiwifruit used to be called Chinese gooseberries until they were renamed in 1959. Another interesting fact was about a lady who had knitted her way to being made an MBE for knitting 735 pairs of socks for the troops during World War I. Both essential parts of kiwi history, I'm sure you'll agree.

After admiring the grand red station building on the way back, we headed out of town to tunnel beach. A steep descent led to a grassy headland with ocean views. Hidden below was an entrance, with a tunnel leading through the rock to a beach below. We had the beach almost to ourselves. A cool little place! Our campsite for the night, Kaitangata, was basically a couple's backyard with only a few vans parked up. One such motorhome had a sticker on the window stating 'adventure before dementia’ - brilliant! With our raw chicken smelling unpalatable, we ordered a homemade pizza from the counter inside the family’s home!Read more