After saying goodbye to our awesome couchsurfing hosts Aaron, Sophie & Luke in Queenstown, and leaving them behind some Lindt chocolates and a thank you note, Sontsa & I were on our way to the east coast of the south island. Our next stop was Dunedin, the largest university town in New Zealand. We had originally planned to first go to the southern most city in the south island called Invercargill, but decided against it after about 20 people told us we'd be wasting our money. Instead, we were lucky enough to catch a ride to Dunedin with this guy Blair who was giving another backpacker we'd briefly met (Kathleen) a ride there. Blair was really nice--gave us all some tips on the hot spots to go to, etc. After Blair dropped us off in the town center, Sontsa & I found a hostel called Penny's Backpackers. We asked the older man at the reception what the cheapest dorm rooms were that he had available. He responded with a sly grin and said, "Well, I do have a very small room that just has one double-bunk in it for $18.00 a night per person." Mine & Sontsa's eyes must have immediately lit up because for a 2-person room, it would normally cost around $30.00 each a night. The man apparently picked up on our excitement & tried to calm us down, saying, "Now, when I say small...I mean small. The door hits the bed when you open it." Sontsa & I looked at each other with a smile, and replied, "We'll take it."
Turns out, the man wasn't kidding. Sontsa & I couldn't even physically walk into the room at the same time. One person had to walk in first, shut the door, shimmy to the other side of the room, then the next person could open the door and come in. Haha! The 'room' apparently wasn't even a true room according to the hostel standards either: all of the other rooms were numbered, while ours was just labeled "B." I guess not too many people actually stay in that room, or at least not for as long as we did. Whenever we mentioned to someone in the hostel which room we were in, they'd be like, "Ohhh..you're in that room." Haha...too funny. Needless to say, it made for a very amusing week. To our surprise (and the surprise of others), we ended up staying in that room for 6 nights total. It probably would have been a different story, except for the fact that I too came down with Sontsa's sickness shortly after arriving in Dunedin. I suppose it was unavoidable, as we had been sharing a mattress on the floor for a solid week & were together all the time. So, as a courtesy to the other hostel residents, we opted to stay in our itty bitty tiny private room in order to contain our sickness.
We didn't get to experience as much of Dunedin as we would have liked due to our lovely illness, as well as some bad weather days. However, we really enjoyed all of the things that we did get to see. Much of our time outside of the hostel was spent walking around the town and just checking out the city sights while the weather was nice. Dunedin was much bigger than we had expected, plus it had a really good vibe to it. It had a really beautiful cathedral, some old stone churches that were pretty sweet, and some cool museums. The only museum we ended up making it to was the Otago Museum. It was good though, and we particularly enjoyed an interactive exhibit it had on human faces. Sontsa & I also went on a tour around the Cadbury Chocolate Factory in Dunedin & got lots of free chocolate...mmmm! At one point, our guide gave us each a tiny little cup of melted chocolate that was apparently incredibly sweet. Everyone in the tour group somewhat struggled to finish their cups. However, I believe my taste buds had not fully come back to top-working order from being sick because I surprised everyone by downing mine in a matter of seconds...they even gave me a second cup =)
The best thing we did in Dunedin, however, was taking the local city bus 20 minutes away to a place called Tunnel Beach. The bus driver dropped us off in an area that just had fields, some cows, some horses, and some sporadic homes. He told us just to follow the two people that had gotten off the bus before us & we'd eventually run into the path that would take us to Tunnel Beach. Along the way, we stopped to say hello to a couple of cows (who ignored us) & then stopped to pet a couple of horses. The horses weren't that interested either though...oh well. After about a 20-minute walk behind the couple, we did indeed find the sign for Tunnel Beach. The bus driver, however, had failed to mention the fact that the pathway down to Tunnel Beach was: 1) slightly long, 2) verrrrrry muddy. Since the path was mostly downhill, the mud made it just a tad bit slippery. In order not to fall on our arses, we had to hold onto the sides of the fence & walk one foot carefully in front of the other right along the fenceline where the ground was the least slippery.
After a careful 30-minute walk down, we came upon a scene of massive cliffsides jutting out into the ocean, some vibrant green hills, and waves crashing into some huge rocks that were in the water. It was beautiful. When we walked further out onto the green hill that spanned into the water, we noticed a tunnel that had been built into the side of the hill. I excitedly entered the tunnel & walked down to see where it lead. It turned out that its purpose was to take you to the actual shoreline of the beach. However, the tide was way too high & the waves were crashing on the rocks like mad crazy, so there was really no way for us to go explore the shoreline. We stayed at the end of the tunnel for a few minutes though taking some pictures when all of a sudden, a cute little seal came onto the rocks! It was soooooooo adorable!! He was so curious about us too & kept inching his way closer in our direction, watching us with his sweet little brown eyes. Oh, I was just so happy to see that little guy! Tunnel Beach was definitely one of my favorite spots on the south island. The sad thing is that no one ever talks about it. The only reason we even knew it existed was because our hostel happened to have a picture of it on the wall--lucky for us!
Now, you may remember that Sontsa & I had wanted to rent a car for part of our travels on the south island; you may also remember that she & I are horrible planners. Yeahhh...that whole rental car thing didn't work out so well haha. It was one of those deals where we made a potential plan (we'd get a car from Dunedin, drive the east coast, then drop it off in Christchurch), but then we just kept talking about it, looked up rental car rates from time to time, made a couple of phone calls here and there, but never actually booked anything. So, when we finally got around to calling the rental car companies in Dunedin to make the reservation, there were absolutely no cars available except for outrageously expensive ones-- strike 2 for poor planning. In an attempt to learn from our prior mistakes, we finally changed our ways! Our second to last day in town, we pre-booked an afternoon bus a week ahead of time for May 24th from Kaikoura (which we knew would be our last stop on the south island) to Christchurch & went to the Flight Centre to book a flight from Christchurch back to Auckland for the same evening of the 24th. I must say, planning in advance felt pretty good. Then, we even pre-bought some tickets to go see a movie that night in Dunedin =)
Yes, for one of our last nights in Dunedin, we decided to spoil ourselves by going to see a movie at the cinema. I pre-planned to have glorious movie popcorn as my dinner & it was just as satisfying as I had hoped. The movie, Water for Elephants, was really well-done--great film. It was a perfect evening out! Going out to the cinema can be pretty expensive, so it is somewhat of a luxury for backpackers; I miss it soo much. Our final night in Dunedin was spent seeing one last tourist attraction: the "Steepest Street in the World." Umm....yeahhh....I think New Zealanders need to go hit the streets of San Francisco or something & see if they still want to try and claim that title. It was steep, sure, but seriously... Sontsa & I just looked at each other saying, "Well, I'm soo glad we paid to take the city bus all the way across town to see this. It's sooo greeeeat." Haha. In New Zealand's defense though, we did hear from a couple of Canadian friends we met that the street was in fact impressively steep once you actually took the time to climb it. Sontsa & I did not do so.
That sums up our Dunedin trip--we didn't really meet anyone in the hostel while we were there. I chatted with one guy from America for a while our first night there, but that was it. After that, Sontsa & I didn't do much socializing, partly because we were sick & partly because the people there just weren't that appealing. As for Queenstown, I forgot to mention a certain phone call I received while we were there. My NZ cell phone rang & the caller ID showed an unfamilar NZ phone number. I answered & heard on the other line, "Hello, is this Ashley King? Yes, this is George Trueman from the Immigration office in Wellington. How are you today? Very good. Ashley, I'm calling today because we have recently been made aware of some people abusing their visas in this country. Therefore, we are making phone calls to everyone who currently holds a New Zealand visa & getting details of their status in our country. Ashley, where are you in NZ right now? Uh huh...and are you currently working? No...ok. Do you plan to work? Uh huh. And I show that your visa will be expiring in September" At this point, I sternly corrected him & said that my visa didn't expire until January 2012. He replied, "Oh yes, sorry my mistake. And Ashley, do you have your passport with you?" I was sure the phone call was a hoax by this point, but didn't know who the culprit was. After a couple more fishy questions, the man's voice on the other line changed to a less professional tone & he said, "Hey Ashley, it's Ricky." It was our first couchsurfing host from Wellington haha. He was apparently bored at work. Sontsa & I ended up talking to him for a good 30 minutes or so, and of course exchanged some laughs. Oh, Ricky...good stuff. =)
Cheers,
Ash
Turns out, the man wasn't kidding. Sontsa & I couldn't even physically walk into the room at the same time. One person had to walk in first, shut the door, shimmy to the other side of the room, then the next person could open the door and come in. Haha! The 'room' apparently wasn't even a true room according to the hostel standards either: all of the other rooms were numbered, while ours was just labeled "B." I guess not too many people actually stay in that room, or at least not for as long as we did. Whenever we mentioned to someone in the hostel which room we were in, they'd be like, "Ohhh..you're in that room." Haha...too funny. Needless to say, it made for a very amusing week. To our surprise (and the surprise of others), we ended up staying in that room for 6 nights total. It probably would have been a different story, except for the fact that I too came down with Sontsa's sickness shortly after arriving in Dunedin. I suppose it was unavoidable, as we had been sharing a mattress on the floor for a solid week & were together all the time. So, as a courtesy to the other hostel residents, we opted to stay in our itty bitty tiny private room in order to contain our sickness.
We didn't get to experience as much of Dunedin as we would have liked due to our lovely illness, as well as some bad weather days. However, we really enjoyed all of the things that we did get to see. Much of our time outside of the hostel was spent walking around the town and just checking out the city sights while the weather was nice. Dunedin was much bigger than we had expected, plus it had a really good vibe to it. It had a really beautiful cathedral, some old stone churches that were pretty sweet, and some cool museums. The only museum we ended up making it to was the Otago Museum. It was good though, and we particularly enjoyed an interactive exhibit it had on human faces. Sontsa & I also went on a tour around the Cadbury Chocolate Factory in Dunedin & got lots of free chocolate...mmmm! At one point, our guide gave us each a tiny little cup of melted chocolate that was apparently incredibly sweet. Everyone in the tour group somewhat struggled to finish their cups. However, I believe my taste buds had not fully come back to top-working order from being sick because I surprised everyone by downing mine in a matter of seconds...they even gave me a second cup =)
The best thing we did in Dunedin, however, was taking the local city bus 20 minutes away to a place called Tunnel Beach. The bus driver dropped us off in an area that just had fields, some cows, some horses, and some sporadic homes. He told us just to follow the two people that had gotten off the bus before us & we'd eventually run into the path that would take us to Tunnel Beach. Along the way, we stopped to say hello to a couple of cows (who ignored us) & then stopped to pet a couple of horses. The horses weren't that interested either though...oh well. After about a 20-minute walk behind the couple, we did indeed find the sign for Tunnel Beach. The bus driver, however, had failed to mention the fact that the pathway down to Tunnel Beach was: 1) slightly long, 2) verrrrrry muddy. Since the path was mostly downhill, the mud made it just a tad bit slippery. In order not to fall on our arses, we had to hold onto the sides of the fence & walk one foot carefully in front of the other right along the fenceline where the ground was the least slippery.
After a careful 30-minute walk down, we came upon a scene of massive cliffsides jutting out into the ocean, some vibrant green hills, and waves crashing into some huge rocks that were in the water. It was beautiful. When we walked further out onto the green hill that spanned into the water, we noticed a tunnel that had been built into the side of the hill. I excitedly entered the tunnel & walked down to see where it lead. It turned out that its purpose was to take you to the actual shoreline of the beach. However, the tide was way too high & the waves were crashing on the rocks like mad crazy, so there was really no way for us to go explore the shoreline. We stayed at the end of the tunnel for a few minutes though taking some pictures when all of a sudden, a cute little seal came onto the rocks! It was soooooooo adorable!! He was so curious about us too & kept inching his way closer in our direction, watching us with his sweet little brown eyes. Oh, I was just so happy to see that little guy! Tunnel Beach was definitely one of my favorite spots on the south island. The sad thing is that no one ever talks about it. The only reason we even knew it existed was because our hostel happened to have a picture of it on the wall--lucky for us!
Now, you may remember that Sontsa & I had wanted to rent a car for part of our travels on the south island; you may also remember that she & I are horrible planners. Yeahhh...that whole rental car thing didn't work out so well haha. It was one of those deals where we made a potential plan (we'd get a car from Dunedin, drive the east coast, then drop it off in Christchurch), but then we just kept talking about it, looked up rental car rates from time to time, made a couple of phone calls here and there, but never actually booked anything. So, when we finally got around to calling the rental car companies in Dunedin to make the reservation, there were absolutely no cars available except for outrageously expensive ones-- strike 2 for poor planning. In an attempt to learn from our prior mistakes, we finally changed our ways! Our second to last day in town, we pre-booked an afternoon bus a week ahead of time for May 24th from Kaikoura (which we knew would be our last stop on the south island) to Christchurch & went to the Flight Centre to book a flight from Christchurch back to Auckland for the same evening of the 24th. I must say, planning in advance felt pretty good. Then, we even pre-bought some tickets to go see a movie that night in Dunedin =)
Yes, for one of our last nights in Dunedin, we decided to spoil ourselves by going to see a movie at the cinema. I pre-planned to have glorious movie popcorn as my dinner & it was just as satisfying as I had hoped. The movie, Water for Elephants, was really well-done--great film. It was a perfect evening out! Going out to the cinema can be pretty expensive, so it is somewhat of a luxury for backpackers; I miss it soo much. Our final night in Dunedin was spent seeing one last tourist attraction: the "Steepest Street in the World." Umm....yeahhh....I think New Zealanders need to go hit the streets of San Francisco or something & see if they still want to try and claim that title. It was steep, sure, but seriously... Sontsa & I just looked at each other saying, "Well, I'm soo glad we paid to take the city bus all the way across town to see this. It's sooo greeeeat." Haha. In New Zealand's defense though, we did hear from a couple of Canadian friends we met that the street was in fact impressively steep once you actually took the time to climb it. Sontsa & I did not do so.
That sums up our Dunedin trip--we didn't really meet anyone in the hostel while we were there. I chatted with one guy from America for a while our first night there, but that was it. After that, Sontsa & I didn't do much socializing, partly because we were sick & partly because the people there just weren't that appealing. As for Queenstown, I forgot to mention a certain phone call I received while we were there. My NZ cell phone rang & the caller ID showed an unfamilar NZ phone number. I answered & heard on the other line, "Hello, is this Ashley King? Yes, this is George Trueman from the Immigration office in Wellington. How are you today? Very good. Ashley, I'm calling today because we have recently been made aware of some people abusing their visas in this country. Therefore, we are making phone calls to everyone who currently holds a New Zealand visa & getting details of their status in our country. Ashley, where are you in NZ right now? Uh huh...and are you currently working? No...ok. Do you plan to work? Uh huh. And I show that your visa will be expiring in September" At this point, I sternly corrected him & said that my visa didn't expire until January 2012. He replied, "Oh yes, sorry my mistake. And Ashley, do you have your passport with you?" I was sure the phone call was a hoax by this point, but didn't know who the culprit was. After a couple more fishy questions, the man's voice on the other line changed to a less professional tone & he said, "Hey Ashley, it's Ricky." It was our first couchsurfing host from Wellington haha. He was apparently bored at work. Sontsa & I ended up talking to him for a good 30 minutes or so, and of course exchanged some laughs. Oh, Ricky...good stuff. =)
Cheers,
Ash
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