Down to Dunedin

Spring has arrived and it’s time for me to get moving again. I’ve left Queenstown behind after 3 weeks and will be on the go a bit more now for the next month or two. I used to really love Queenstown but I have mixed feelings about it now. In some ways I prefer Wanaka because it’s quieter and it’s much easier to get right out of town, and I met a lot of really cool people there. Queenstown on the other hand is a lot busier but that does mean there’s more to do, and it’s set right amongst the hills so it’s nice to be able to get up amongst the mountains really quickly. There’s a lot of development going on though and while I can’t really begrudge people wanting to live in a place like that I do think it’s definitely eating away at the charm of the place.

I didn’t do quite as much as I had intended but I still had a good time in my last week there. I finally made it up Queenstown Hill, which I’ve been meaning to do for ages, and spent a really good day out at Arrowtown, a nice little former gold-mining town. Checked out a few of the walking tracks out there, a lot of them take all day though so will have to spend a few days there sometime to explore more thoroughly.



Arriving in Dunedin was a bit strange. To start with I was pretty tired, Queenstown being the party town that it is I of course had about 4 hours sleep before the bus trip down here, having been up until about 2:30 the night before. Playing Monopoly. Because that’s the kind of wild and crazy guy that I am. It was good fun though, I was playing with 2 Germans and an Israeli guy and we were all heading our separate ways so kept deciding to have just one more game. I’ve never been particularly good at Monopoly, mainly because rather than using any kind of sensible strategy I tend buy places whose names I like and refuse to buy railroads or utilities because they don’t have a colour. I usually end up wandering the board paying other people rent, either by choice or just bad luck. I did finally get to own some hotels once though. See - I even have proof.



Okay so they’re on the cheap streets (or Slumville as we called it) but I did get some on the yellows later on.

Anyway, so I was tired when I got to Dunedin and it was really strange being back in the city after the last few months in small mountain towns. I felt like a bit of a hobo actually in my still-muddy boots and outdoorsy clothes, and while I’m a bit more used to it now I’m still glad I’m only here for a short while. Worst of all there’s no mountains anywhere (lots of hills but they don’t count) and the more time I spend around them the more I’ve realised how much at home I feel there. But I’ll be back to them soon enough – heading up to Lake Tekapo for 2 nights soon and then on to Christchurch and Kaikoura to watch me some whales. Here's a picture form the train trip I did from Dunedin through the Taieri Gorge to leave you with.