The Chronicles of NZ: The English City (Written 1/10/07)

Today was a very relaxed day because instead of waking up at the crack of dawn to go somewhere, it was one of those rare days where we got to sleep in and rest up before another long journey. So we got up at about 8am, had a shower and some breakfast (Bacon & Egg pie, don't ask me how they pull that one off) and did a bit of morning chatting with Ian and Jill. But at 10am it was time to push off for our last (as of right now) long drives – 5 hours to get to Dunedin.

Again, it was a good thing I got the train ride out of the way yesterday because it was raining all day. From the time we woke up to the time we arrived in Dunedin, nothing but rain – so it was our first day of bad weather during our road trip, not so bad. Josh once again handled the driving duties doing a good job in the bad weather and I could definitely get use to be chauffeured everywhere.

We made it to Dunedin at about 3pm, so we made good time despite the weather. After finding a place to sleep, we headed to the grocery store to find something to eat (rice & stirfry). After dinner, Josh and Kevin headed to the Speight's brewery to get a tour of their facilities (and get the 6 free samples of beer at the end of the tour) and I went on a little tour of Dunedin by myself. It was still rainy and cold but I enjoyed getting a better feel for the city. There are two things that immediately jump out at you when walking around the city – the hills and the buildings. There are some very steep hills in this town, some hills look steep enough that if you fell you might start rolling back down the hill. According to the Guiness book of world records Dunedin has the world's steepest street (Baldwin St) and I can easily see how this city can have that type of raod – this would not be a great place to drive when ice hits. The building are very old English type places you might see in Ireland or Britain, it gives the place a very European flavor that's different from the other NZ cities I have been in. So the way the cities of NZ are classified is as follows (according to me):

            Auckland = temperamental weather

            Wellington = Windy

            Christchurch = Midwest like

            Greymouth = Morristown

            Dunedin = British feel/look

            Queenstown = ?

Another thing you notice are the churches and statues – both are big and seem to be created in the gothic motif. There was one church that really stood out to me – the first church of Otago (Otago is the name of the region we are in). It is a very impressive gothic type church and when I went to take a picture of it, I noticed on the welcome sign nearby it said "Talofa Lava" which is Samoan. I think that's the first piece of Samoan anything I have seen on the South Island.

Dunedin seems to be a nice place but the bad weather is giving it a bad rep. Ah well, tomorrow is a new day, hopefully new (and better) weather and probably a new city! Cheers.

*Side Notes*

-           In the middle of Dunedin is the town square which is shaped like an octagon. Guess what they call it? The Octagon! Creative, I know – UFC should really do business with this city.

-           Baldwin St. (The world's steepest road) has a gradient of 1 in 1.2666.