I’ve decided Dunedin is the skateboarding capital of New Zealand. Everywhere we went, university kids on skateboards went whizzing past us. And if he wasn’t an international exchange student at Otago University, the friend that hosted us that night would have been one of them. (But you can imagine how pesky it would be to try to classify your skateboard as carry-on luggage from Michigan to New Zealand).
We met Matt and Alicia at The Playhouse Cafe, where they came as HelpX-ers on their Easter break. Through the wonders of technology, Alicia found us on Facebook and offered us a place to stay when we came through Dunedin. They and their van-mates (who all pitched in to buy a van together) even made a big spaghetti dinner for us!
The next morning we set off to see what we could in a day’s time. Our first stop: the world’s steepest street. No joke. Check with Guinness.
Drew came prepared with his running shorts on so he could claim bragging rights to having run up the steepest street in the world.
After Drew recovered from his short but incredibly intense run, we drove to the edge of the Otago Peninsula to catch a glimpse of seals, penguins, and albatross at the Royal Albatross Colony. Unfortunately, the penguins were out hunting for food, I’m not so sure there were any albatross in sight, and the seals were all otherwise engaged in napping. But the view was fantastic!
Being slightly disappointed at not having seen more wildlife, we were surprised by a lone seal swimming by a rock outcrop on the side of the road on our drive back. We stopped and whipped out the camera as quickly as we could, and just as Drew rolled down the window, Mr. Seal rolled over and clapped his flippers!
We obviously didn’t get a good feeling for Dunedin in only a day, but I have to also admit that I’m OK with that. From my first impression, Dunedin wasn’t all that impressive. That’s certainly not to say it wasn’t without its high points. We were glad we made the stop, however short it was.
Check out more pictures of our experience on Facebook!
