After a quick stopover in the small village of Moeraki, we then headed to one of the south island’s biggest cities just an hour or so further down the east coast; Dunedin. This was another fleeting visit as we stayed for just the one night before another one-nighter in Invercargill, right at the bottom of the South Island.
Dunedin was a nice enough city, but we prefer the scenic stops really; we’re not travelling one of the most beautiful countries in the world to walk around the shops! There is a lot more to Dunedin than that though!
Our first port of call was Dunedin’s real claim to fame; Baldwin Street, recognised by the Guinness World Records as the steepest residential street in the world! It wasn’t difficult to believe either as we parked at the bottom and looked up.
On one side, the pavement is actually in the form of steps because – as I found out when I walked back down on the other side – it’s pretty difficult to control your momentum without them!
It’s really quite odd to look at the houses on either side of the street as they sit at such a different angle to the road itself.
Cadbury now organise an annual event that involves rolling thousands of jaffas (round ball-like chocolates in NZ) down the hill! It looks awesome and I SO wish we could have been there for that!
The south east of New Zealand’s South Island has a strong Scottish heritage and Dunedin is no different. Much of the architecture, in terms of the city’s heritage buildings, is reminiscent of a British style. The train station though is a real beaut.
Extending out from Dunedin is the Otago Peninsula, which provides fantastic views and beaches in a rural setting – as well as the country’s only castle! We only drove as far as the castle but didn’t fancy actually going in as the prices were a little steep for our level of interest! In hindsight though I do wish we had a longer drive around the peninsula.
Anyway… from Dunedin, it was onto another city in the form of Invercargill. Our main reason for going here was to visit Bluff, which is the southernmost point of New Zealand (apart from Stewart Island of course). Way back in April last year, we visited Cape Reinga, right at the tip of the north island – nine months later, we’ve finally made it to the opposite end of the compass!
Cape Reinga definitely wins the battle of north vs south though! There wasn’t much to see in Bluff or Invercargill (although admittedly we didn’t do much research). To us, Invercargill was just another city, and with the Fiordland National Park awaiting as our next destination, we were just eager to press on.
So, it’s on to Te Anau and Milford Sound!