The second stop on our tour of south island was Dunedin, two hundred and twenty five miles south of Christchurch.
We broke the drive up with a few stops, the first (unscheduled one) took place when we drove past a massive sign for New Zealand’s most loved cookies since 1983, CookieTime!
“It took all our will power not to buy a kilogram bag of broken cookies.”
We couldn’t resist pulling in for a look and a potential cookie purchase. It turned out to be a factory shop which sold all of the cookies available from the brand, including huge bags of cheap broken cookies that weren’t able to be sold elsewhere.
It took all our will power not to buy a kilogram bag of broken cookies as we would have eaten them all on the way to Dunedin. Instead, we each bought an oven fresh cranberry and white chocolate cookie, crunchy and warm they barely lasted a minute in our hands once we were out of the shop!
Content with the cookie taste in our mouths, we drove on towards our actual scheduled stop, Caroline Bay, where we pulled up by the beach and had a picnic lunch.
Just before we reached Dunedin, we also visited the Moeraki Boulders on Koekohe Beach. The boulders are concretions that are visible due to erosion of the cliffs that back onto the beach. Some of the boulders are over three metres in diameter!
Walking down the coastal path to the beach the boulders were clearly visible from half a mile away.
When we finally arrived in Dunedin we checked into the Manor House Backpackers and after a quick shop for food, settled in for the evening as we had a big day planned the following day.
In the morning we drove out to the Otago Peninsula for some walking trails around Sandymount. First we headed out to the chasms, where the large cliffs that drop down to the South Pacific ocean jut in and out of the headland.
The loop trail continued around Sandymount to Lovers Leap, an arch created in the cliffs that stands over two hundred and twenty metres high.
“It felt very much like home, only I was in the farthest city in the world from home.”
The final viewpoint on the trail was the lookout at the summit of Sandymount. The views across the inlet to Mount Charles, The Pyramids and the hills of the mainland behind were spectacular.
The scenery of rolling green hills, the ocean crashing into the cliffs, the coastal walking track, the sheep and the wind all reminded me very much of the Isle of Man. It felt very much like home, only I was in the farthest city in the world from home (nearly twelve thousand miles away).
After our morning walk we drove to the end of the Otago peninsula, Taiaroa Head, home to an albatross colony as well has yellow eyed penguins.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any of the yellow eyed penguins as it was a bit too early in the day for them to be on the beach and we didn’t fancy paying the pricey entrance fees to see the albatross.
Instead we walked down to Pilot beach and saw nature for free! A friendly seal swam straight up to the rocks near where we were, being inquisitive it stayed looking around for a few minutes before diving underwater and dashing off.
We headed back to our backpackers for lunch before making the most of what was left of the afternoon.
Baldwin Street, located in Dunedin is named in the Guinness Book of World Records as the steepest street in the world and I can verify that it is very very very steep! Thankfully there was a good run up to the bottom of the steep part for our little hire car to build up momentum and make it to the top.
At the top there is a beautiful bench, perfectly situated for those that walk to the top to recuperate. The bench, along with the wall behind it is painted in a mural of the street itself and the houses that line it.
Rich thoroughly enjoyed driving down the steepest street in the world. I didn’t.
Our next stop was Signal Hill lookout to see Dunedin from above. The lookout was huge at around thirty metres wide and we had to walk across it to take in the panoramic views of Dunedin.
Finally we headed into Dunedin city centre to walk around the historic buildings that give the city such character and charm. The highlights included St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Town Hall and the train station.
We were exhausted after our sightseeing day in Dunedin, there was so much to see and it is such a beautiful place that we could have spent longer there. However, we had packed everything into one day and were ready to move on the following day.
Lambs on the loose 