Dunedin And Nugget Point

In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, is captivated by the breathtaking and unusual site of Dunedin and Nugget Point. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to New Zealand.

We've spent the last few days on this Adventures Abroad tour of New Zealand in the southwest corner of South Island which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to four national parks. In the last post, we visited Doubtful Sound, one of the most remote and beautiful places on Earth. It will be hard to top that experience, but our tour leader Chris Tripodi and our South Island driver and guide Ian Hodgkinson are going to give it a try as we head to the city of Dunedin, which we will use as a base to explore the Otago Peninsula. But first, we'll make a couple of stops on the way before tackling the world's steepest street. I hope Ian is up to the challenge. Let's find out.

The drive from the tiny village of Te Anau, where we spent the night, to Dunedin would usually take about three hours, but we are going the scenic route, which will take us to the coast at Invercargill and then up the east coast of South Island. This area of southeastern South Island is known as The Catlins and is famed for its natural beauty, but our first stop is anything but natural.

The town of Owaka is the home of Teapotland, a collection of over 1,300 teapots in one man's backyard. It was not on the itinerary, but Ian said you can't come to The Catlins and not visit Teapotland.

It's about as kitschy as it gets, but Alison and Sue don't seem to mind.

Nugget Point

Our next stop, not far up the coast, was a perfect combination of the natural and the man-made. Nugget Point was given its name by, who else but, Captain Cook, who on first spotting the tiny islets off the peninsula that shimmered in the sunlight compared them to gold nuggets and the name stuck.

The easy ten or fifteen minute walk from the parking lot has to be among the most scenic short walks in the country. Here is a gallery of photos I took on that walk.

This is one place you are definitely going to enlist the services of your tour leader to take your photo. Turns out Chris knows how to take a good shot, as he demonstrated consistently on this trip.

Dunedin

I wish I could say that I have a lot of photos of Dunedin masquerading as The Edinburgh of the South, but I don't. The masquerade was so well done that it completely lulled me into forgetting to note any of the Scottish-like stone buildings. There are a few, including the railway station, that are quite unique. This photo is from the Kia Ora Campers website.

While Edinburgh's rep is not overshadowed by Dunedin, it does have one thing that Auld Reekie can't compete with – the world's steepest street. Baldwin Street, as this plaque attests, is certifiably the owner of that title. BTW, that bird on top is a fantail, which, if not for the kiwi, would almost certainly be the national bird.

No photo can do justice to just how steep Baldwin Street is, but this one taken from the top gives an inkling.

So, how did I get to the top? Our fearless driver Ian, said ordinary buses would never attempt to go up, but ours was small enough that he could chance it. After all, he used to be a race car driver. He floored it, and 30 seconds later, we topped out. I opted to get out and walk down. Not because I was scared shitless, but to get this shot of our group on the way down. I promise.

Another thing Dunedin has that Edinburgh does not is Speight's Gold Medal Ale, which is made from spring water that has been flowing into the brewery from below for almost 150 years. It's a delicious libation for beer lovers, but if you are not a brewski adventurer, you are free to help yourself to some of that same spring water from this tap on the outside of the brewery. People swear it has magic properties, but I prefer the hopped-up version.

We had an excellent meal at the Speight's Ale House on our first night in Dunedin.

However, it was our meal on the second night in Dunedin that I will never forget. As you can probably guess from his name, Chris has Italian roots, and he took us to the sprawling second floor of Etrusco at the Savoy. He waved away the menus and started ordering for us, and the food kept on coming and coming. I'm pretty sure I missed a few of the dishes, but here is a gallery of some of them.

We've all watched TV shows where at the end someone like Tony Bourdain or Stanley Tucci sits down with an extended Italian family and they celebrate with great food and wine and a hell of a lot of noise. Well, Chris was our Tony, and this was as close as I've ever gotten to that authentic Italian experience. And to think, it happened in Dunedin.

On that delicious note, I'll end this short post. In the next one, we'll explore the wonders of the Otago Peninsula. Hope you'll join us.