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Published: August 16th 2005
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I didn't even plan to go to Dunedin, but the bad weather in the west coast convinced me to drive east. It was a good decision! I had so much fun here that I stayed 3 days and was so sorry to leave, but the flight to Sydney was coming and there was no other choice.
I arrived in town on Friday afternoon after a long beautiful drive from Wanaka. The first brochure I found in the information center was for a ghost tour! I decided to do that one. Just before the tour started I got a text message telling me I had a new niece! Congratulations to my brother and his family!
And then Andrew arrived, our ghosts guide. He was properly dressed in a black suit, with white shirt and white umbrella, very impressive. The rest of the participants were all locals from Dunedin - it was nice to be the only tourist for a change. He took us around the center and we heard funny ghost stories, people haunting the place where they died or where the lived and worked, scary stories if you believe in them, but big fun otherwise.
On Saturday I did the 2
must-dos of Dunedin - Cadbury chocolate factory tour and Speights brewery tour. The first was boring, just as their chocolate is not so good (I only buy Nestle here, sorry guys). They don't really show much, and you feel like walking in one big Cadbury commercial. The second was great, just like their "Old Dark" beer, which is really good. I learned how they make beer - but I can't say I remember much because the tour ended with tastings and I tried 6 different beers. And if that wasn't enough, I went with Katie - an Irish girl I met on both tours - to the Speights pub to have some more of that good Old Dark.
In the morning I went to the local farmers market and met a nice Israeli couple - Yaakov and Ilana. They immigrated from ehovot to Dunedin 2 years ago and opened a restaurant here selling falafel, hummus, "Jerusalem mix" (which they call Mediterranean mix here) etc. Finally I had a real good falafel! not like what they call falafel here but is nothing like the real things... On Monday morning just before leaving town I went to their cafe for a light
lunch, Israeli food that is not usually my favorite but after such a long time away, even I miss it.
On Saturday night there was a big match on TV - The NZ All Blacks vs. the Wallabies of Australia, as a part of the TriNation cup (also participating South Africa). I assume most of you have no idea what I am talking about - the All Blacks and the Wallabies are the Rugby national teams of those two countries. I watched the beginning of the match, saw the All Blacks performing their famous Haka (Maori war dance), saw the wallabies leading 6-0 and went to sleep. I missed the whole thing apparently because eventually the All Blacks won 30-13! To make up for that I went to a live Rugby match Sunday. I wish I could see a real big one (the All Blacks are playing here in the end of the month...), but I had to do with the local Otago team against Bay of Plenty. It was a cold day and there weren't that many people in the big Carisbrook stadium. I went with Katie and of course we went to the standing terraces, where all
the real big funs are, with their blue - yellow flags and scarves and huts and even wigs (felt like home with the colors of Maccabi Tel Aviv!) Well when it started to rain we all sneaked to the covered sitting terraces... The game was interesting in the beginning and I had Katie to explain to me what the hell they were doing there. But Otago lead quite firmly the whole time so it wasn't that exciting after that. They won 26-6... Now I should go to a football match one day (real football, and I refuse to use the word soccer!). At least I understand what's going on there...
In my 3 nights in Dunedin I stayed at one of the Chiburim homes (a similar organization to HIT). Hazel lives in a suburb of Dunedin and she's a real nice lady. I had my own self-contained unit under her house, and she urged me to use the outdoors Jacuzzi one evening. It was a real treat - maybe 2-3 degrees outside and 37 degrees in the water, so great. It felt really nice to stay in a real home for a change.
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anonymous
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sweet digs bra