Dun-eyyy-din... nope... Duney-din... nope... Dune-eee-din?... Nope...
I still can't really remember the pronunciation, but it was one of the most interesting places we'd been yet. Having seen that the places that we'd wanted to go on from after Timaru were predicted thunderstroms, high winds, and otherwise crap weather, we decided that sticking on the coast would still be our best option.
Spoiler alert: there was no nice weather this week...
Either way, we set off for Dunedin from Timaru. This was after we'd met a guy called Maui (think, Disney's Moana!) who owned a B&B in Dunedin that was unfortunately booked up, but we may have the chance to return for free in the future!
We stopped off halfway between Timaru and Dunedin in a place called Oamaru. It was nice enough, but there was no direct access to the beach without crossing over train tracks and private land - neither of which we particularly wanted to do...
However, after a coffee and hot chocolate from a seedy little cafe near the "beachfront", Matt had the genius idea of following 'Beach Road'; this was a far better idea.
The weather may not have been the best, and I sure wasn't dressed for the occasion, but we had a quick 5 minutes on a windy yet sandy beach which had warmer water than the beach we went to in California... so there's that!
The rest of the drive was gorgeous (despite the oncoming mist), and we pulled over a few times just to get great photos of the seaside and accompanying cliffs as we made our way further down south.
In addition, the coastal route also crosses over the train coastline around a million times - I'd say - at least, that's what it felt like!
We arrived in Dunedin around mid-afternoon and went to the local Pak'N'Save to stock up on dinner supplies, as well as stopping into the nearby Warehouse shop to grab a mallet and some towels - essentials, you see.
At about 2:50pm, we decided that the weather was not going to clear up and that we should seek alternative accommodation, other than a few freedom campsites that we had been scouting out earlier in the day.
By 3pm, we'd arrived at a nearby hostel - "Chateua Backpackers" - which used to be an old hospital from around the 1800s. It sounds creepy (and it was... a little bit) but it was the first time that we'd had a proper bed in a while and we both felt as though we deserved it.
Not wanting to waste the day, we headed out to find a late lunch/early dinner, and stumbled across a delicious burger and beers place called "Emmerson's Brew Bar" and people-watched for a while, as well as realising that gulls are crazy...
This was all in an area known as the Hexagon, which seemed like the bar and restaurant hotspot of the city.
Despite not feeling very social, we then ended up at Dunedin Social Club and treated ourselves to some espresso martinis as well as some sour watermelon daquiries (bartender's recommendation!) before heading back to the hostel to collapse.
In classic "us"-fashion, it was up a very steep hill, meaning that we were more than happy to escape the oncoming rain and collapse into bed, catching up on Drag Race and crotcheting while Matt watched his own stuff on his laptop beside me.
I'll upload a picture of my crotcheting soon, but given that I'm writing this particular post in December... that may be a while!
By 8am the next morning, we'd decided that we'd want another night in Dunedin. The weather was still crap, and we couldn't quite face another night in the tent just yet, so we knew we had the whole day to spend in Dunedin, despite the oncoming storm...
Reception only opened at 9am, so we'd worked up quite an appetite before heading out for breakfast afterward - heading back around the Hexagon to a place called "The Perc on Central" (possibly a reference to Central Perc from 'Friends'... if anyone cares about that anymore!).
Exploring Dunedin a little further, we found the old train station/art gallery/sports museum, which made us laugh when all the coach tourists got excited about a little works' van coming down the track on its little clip-on wheels. It was a sight... that's for sure.
Mid-morning, we headed to Otago Museum on the promise of seeing Moa skeletons - one of the largest birds ever to have lived, often measuring up to over 3m tall in some cases!
In Otago museum, we looked at old Polynesian culture items, as well as the Moa skeletons before deciding that we needed a cider to continue. By this point, the rain was buffeting off of the glass roof above us, meaning that we needed to find more to look at.
Side note: no one outside of the UK knows how and where to queue... and also that we got to the museum cafe just in time!
We looked at many stuffed animals, from the regular birds and reptiles, all the way up to lions, rhinos, and creepy, creepy spiders! I always find it hilarious looking at old stuffed animals, as they were obviously brought back to the place of stuffing before anyone made a record of what they actually looked like. This means that they have extra dodgy faces, and are definitely not good representations of the creatures themselves. Somehow, they managed to get the tarantula just right...
By the end of it, I wasn't sure what I wanted to be further away from... the creepy kangaroo faces or the spiders that looked like they might start scuttling at any point!
We braved the rain as we left the museum, pausing halfway back to the hostel at a Scottish bar near the Hexagon to get a pint and some tapas (I know right... in a Scottish bar?) and made mini-bets on the next cars to pull out of the junction opposite.
When we got back to the hostel, I went to put on some laundry; we had no idea when we'd have the chance next!
We played some pool in the room downstairs before dinner (I made some epic shots - beating Matt in the majority of games we played!) before settling down for tortellini and alfredo sauce.
After dinner, we considered going out again for some live music at the Dunedin Social Club, but quickly decided against it after considering the hill again, as well as the growing wind speeds and increasing rainfall in the area.
By 9pm, the windows in our room were shaking at the shutters, and we were more than happy to have decided to stay in the hostel. Propping our bags against the door to stop it shaking (from the wind and potential old doctor and nurse ghosts!), we settled down for a good sleep.
The next morning (Friday), we had (again) little plan of what to do. That's when we decided to seek the nearest Maccie's and go from there.
Considering our options (and the fact that it was little more than a month before we had a house over Christmas for dog-sitting!) we decided to head to Wānaka and see Matt's sister, Danni, and her partner again.
So we set off!
- Abi
Comments
Post a Comment