Road Trip NZ: Dunedin
I absolutely loved Dunedin, for it’s a great mix of wildlife, beautiful architecture, and cheese rolls. Seems like a strange mix of famous things for a town, but that’s just what it is!
Located along the eastern coast of New Zealand’s South Island, Dunedin is 1.5 hours from Oamaru and 4 hours from Queenstown. It’s a place that’s mainly famed for its seals and penguins, but there’s definitely more to this city than just that. Geographically, it’s unique – it has a curved coastline, which means the whole city is like a crescent moon of sorts. This means that though the town centre’s pretty hip and happening, you can find at the “tip” a whole new world of seals, penguins, and albatross still roaming happily in the wild.
Just take a look at the panoramic view you can get from Signal Hill Lookout:
Signal Hill Lookout
Snapped this picture during the magic hour, and me and J were the only people around. Really. Though it was Summer, this place was strangely empty which makes it so much more awesome, cause there’s no one to jostle with you for the best vantage point for a photo.
Just next to Signal Hill Lookout, you will be able to drive/walk/crawl up the World’s Steepest Slope, Baldwin Street.
Baldwin Street – World’s Steepest Street
Might not look like it, but it really is. You can even get a certificate if you inform the tourist info centre there before time. When we tried to drive up, it was quite an adventure. J was flooring the accelerator on our car but the car was inching forward at like, 20km/h. It was that steep. Kinda scary! Worth going to just take a look.
The town centre itself is quite pretty, called the “Octagon“, it’s quite literally, shaped like an Octagon. The centre’s quite small, end to end’s probably only about 10 minutes, and all hotels in Dunedin are located within walking distance to the town centre.
The Octagon, Dunedin
I liked it that I could easily walk out for a cuppa coffee in the morning before I drove out for my wildlife adventures, and that I could easily grab some drinks at the end of the day at the pubs surrounding the town centre and walk back to my hotel when I’m sufficiently high (and happy)!
So the highlight of Dunedin, is its wildlife. I tried two different cruises – the Monarch Wildlife Cruise ($49 and up), and Natures Wonders Wildlife Tour ($55). They’re quite different though, because Monarch takes you out to sea in their boats to view the wild life, while Natures Wonders takes you on land via their Argo 8-wheel drives.
Giant Albatross
For Monarch, you would be a distance away from land-based creatures such as the seals and the penguins, but you would be able to have a chance to go up close to the Giant Albatross (the picture was how close I was to the Albatross!) when they’re resting by floating on the sea.
I enjoyed Natures Wonders much more though, because you could go really close to the penguins and seals. In addition, you would also be able to have loads of fun sitting on the 8-wheel drive vehicle as it goes up and down undulating terrain.
Adorable Seal pups playing
Blue Penguin molting
More cute seal pups coming close to us
Random sheep we met along the way
I definitely got much more photo ops with Natures Wonders. Heavily recommended! Just email them to place a reservation, it’s quite simple and fuss free.
Dunedin is also famed for having the most photographed building in New Zealand – the Dunedin Railway Station. This place is so pretty but so difficult to take a photo of, because it’s rather big and there’s limited space in front of it. So I used my handy panorama function on my iPhone5.
Dunedin Railway Station
And last but not least, don’t leave Dunedin without trying out one of their famous Cheese Rolls. I tried from a couple of shops, but my favourite’s gotta be Cilantro Cafe, located near the Octagon. They have the biggest Cheese Roll I’ve ever seen, it’s so gigantic I think they probably have to specially bake and cut bread for the purpose of making it.
Doesn’t it look epic? Making me really hungry now.
Plan at least 2-3 full days to stay in Dunedin. This is one place you will want to stay longer in, for it’s a really lovely place 🙂
