Strolling round Dunedin

Trip Start Feb 03, 2008

Trip End Apr 14, 2008

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Flag of New Zealand Dunedin, New Zealand
Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Well from a very English city to a quite Scottish city. This morning I got up bright and early and got the coach for the 6 hour journey down to Dunedin. Dunedin - I'm reliably informed by Lonely Planet - is Celtic for Edinburgh. It is the second biggest "city" in the south island as was created by some Scottish presbyterian minister. I hope you're enjoying the history lesson. Anyway as I'm only here for this afternoon and tonight, I've had a good walk round and as I'm finding with quite a lot of places in New Zealand, I think I've seen everything in an hour's stroll round. Sydney, these places aint! But still its a nice enough place with some quaint old buildings and churches, check out the photos when I get a chance to put them on. The weather has also improved a bit today but as can be expected the furher south I go the colder it gets. I'd guess its about 17-18c this afternoon but this feels cold compared to what I've been used to over the last couple of months. I hear your sympathy from the other side of the world

! Well maybe not. Anyway it all fits in with this theme of preparing myself for home. In fact last night in Christchurch it absolutely pissed it down for about an hour but conveniently stopped just as I'd decided to leave the pub and head to bed. This was only about the third or fourth time I'd seen rain in my 4-5 weeks in New Zealand! So Mum, you see I didn't need a raincoat and I still haven't got one! Oh back to Dunedin, Dunedin is the home of Cadbury's for New Zealand and Australia and the smell as you walk past the factory is a bit of a toned down version of the stickly stench you get as you drive through Bournville. Other than that Dunedin is also home to Speight's Brewery - a brewery fact just for my Dad! Unfortunately though as my coach was delayed this morning I was too late to partake in a tour of the brewery which I'm told would have included free sampling! Wounded! Oh well I'm sure I will still enjoy several pints of Speights later on this evening. Anyway tomorrow I am off to Queenstown where I will be spending 4 nights, checking out all the crazy stuff that goes on there. Do not pester me about bungee jumps or sky dives because there is absolutely no chance of me ever doing anything as stupid as that. And yes Browny you did do a Bungee Jump and we all saw it, but it was a piddly little crap thing off Blackpool pier not one that dangles you 100 metres into a great big massive canyon! Although you would never have caught me doing the one off Blackpool pier either!
Anyway, on Monday I will be heading back to Christchurch, because on Tuesday I fly from Christchurch up to Auckland where I will be spending the last few days of the trip

. Then a week on Sunday morning, I fly to Sydney where I spend 9 hours and will try and head into the city for a bit, before I get my flight back to London at half 4 in the afternoon. So I've still got lots of time of planes and buses left yet!
And yes Dad I know I still haven't put the Picton ferry crossing pictures on yet, I'll try and do that when I get to Queenstown tomorrow. Oh and Happy Birthday Dad for tomorrow - I put a card in the post at the weekend so hopefully it'll get there in time.

Take care everyone, keep in touch and I will see you all in a couple of weeks.

***UPDATE*** - I got on the brewery tour after all at 7pm last night, it was pretty good actually and I had a good half hour sampling session. 6 different beers to try, it was pretty good. Pics to follow when I get to Queenstown.