The heart of Scotland
Trip Start
Jul 24, 2007
1
35
50
Trip End
Nov 11, 2007
Dunedin,
New Zealand
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Started my tour on the bottom bus today which meant that I left everyone behind in Queenstown which was a bit sad but I wasn't overly keen on Queenstown, it was really pretty and had great night life but its really hyped about and its expensive and I could imagine it being overrun in the summer with people none of whom are actually Kiwi's. It was worth a look and I will head back that way again in about 8 or 9 days because I have to go there to get my bus to Christchurch otherwise I probably wouldn't!
Baldwin Street Sign
Thats the thing with coming and doing the Kiwi bus with such a short amount of time. I kinda had to decide where I wanted to hop off and where wanted to spend extra time and book the buses to make sure I could see and do everything that I wanted to and still be back in Christchurch in time for my flight to Oz but all I had to base my trip on was what the Kiwi leaflet said and although you can change your dates etc whenever you want to and stay in a place longer it's meant that to do that I'd have to spend less time somewhere else or miss somewhere out completely and I'm always thinking that the next place might be that little bit better! There have been a few places where I have thought I would have liked to have stayed longer and only realised it after I've arrived - Rotorua, River Valley, Franz Josef, Wanaka, Wellington (would have been nice to see it in the day light and actually have the chance to walk around!) and now this place.
The bottom bus operates differently in that its affiliated with Kiwi but its not owned by Kiwi so this morning we were picked up by a minibus and our driver's name was Bloke (yep spelt it right!) and there were only 3 of us so its much more intimate - you can ask loads of questions and stop in a few more places because you can do it quicker instead of herding 40 people on and off a bus
Baldwin Street from the bottom
. So we headed out of Queenstown and down towards the east coast of the south islands which I hadn't yet seen - its quite a change in scenery from the west coast which boasts huge mountains and steep gorges - the east coast in much flatter and reminded me much more of home especially northern england. There are still rolling hills and stuff where I am now but as I head further south it'll be much flatter.Dunedin is an old scottish settlement and is affectionately known as the edinburgh of New Zealand and they are actually proud of that - street names are the same - princes street is the main area, they have a botanical gardens very similar to Edinburgh and they have lots of old buildings and churches. Havin said that this area is much flatter Dunedin is the exception to that - The city is built in a Volcanic crater which means to enter or leave the city you have drive, walk, run or whateva up and over the volcano rim (its an extinct volcano). The city also lays claim to the world's steepest street which is in dispute with San Francisco even though its been proven scientifically that Baldwin Street here is much steeper than Lombard Street in San Francisco and I think just by looking at them Baldwin Street is much steeper and its definitely longer but you'll never beat the American's!!!
Dunedin is a crazy student town - there are 25,000 students and the locals call them scarffies because most of them come from the north island or further north on the south island and aren't used to how cold it is down here so they all wear scarves - Bloke told us some crazy stories about what they get up to though - a couple of them last year decided to ride in a wheelie bin like a toboggan down baldwin street (the steep one) all was going well til it spun round and hit a telegraph pole - one died instantly and one now can't walk
Baldwin Street from the top
! The student also have a habit of taking all the furniture out of the student houses when it gets cold in the evening and burning it in the streets in scarffie land - we drove through there and you can actually see the burn marks in the tarmac!! they then replace it all with second hand rubbish - seems to be the place for studying!!The added bonus to Dunedin is that they have a huge Cadbury's chocolate factory here!!! I was so excited because they do tours as well but as with most things that are hyped it was a disappointment - you don't get to see any of the chocolate being made, you see some crunchie's being wrapped and some boxes running along a conveyor belt the only good thing was that you got lots of free samples! They have loads more types of chocolate over here as well - lemon cheesecake, banana chocolate, banoffee pie but the factory tour was a huge disappointment - don't waste your money!! There is also a tour of the local Speight's brewery which in hindsight would have probably been a better idea but never mind.
So tomorrow I jump back on the bus and head down to Curio Bay which is more towards the bottom and I'm staying there for 2 nights to get some washing done and to chill out a bit should be groovy.
