Dunedin

---

The first day of our South island 5 day road trip took us to the student city of Dunedin. Along the way we passed through Cromwell, famous for its fruit growing because of its well draining soil. Arriving in Dunedin after a few hours of driving we checked in to a hostel called the Chalet that according to the lonely planet guide and the receptionist was haunted. We didn't see any ghosts, but were woken up in the middle of the night by a bloodcurdling scream, which was a bit strange.

Dunedin is a really nice place. The centre of town is done out in the shape of an octagon and contains the cathedral, town hall as well as some other pretty impressive architecture. After finding out where the student areas were we ventured out to a few bars that started to fill up around 10:30pm, but we were told that it was 3 weeks from the start of the exams, and we wanted to make an early start so headed back to the hostel.

In our hostel, we met two Scottish lads who had got up for the Champions League final (I stayed in bed) and had been drinking all day. Needless to say they were smashed, but highly entertaining. There was this Irish dude there too, who was actually supposed to be working down in the docks, but had risked sneaking home for a few hours, and was heading back at 11pm to sign out! We never did find out if he got away with it, but fair play to him if he did.

The next day saw us driving across town in search of Baldwin Street, the world's steepest street. Finding it was a bit of an effort, but when we got there, it was really steep. According to the information sign, its steepest point has a gradient of 1 in 2.86, steep. After walking up it (knackering) and running down it (like little kids), we went on our way,
Bound for the lakeside town of Te Anau, passing through the Catlins, and Invercargill on the way.

---