Settling in Dunedin

The town of Dunedin (pronounced du-nee-den) is our home for the next few months. It is the second largest city on New Zealand's south island and sits right on the head of the Otago Peninsula. There are a number of unique attractions, such as the Dunedin Railway Station, the Dunedin Botanical Gardens (literally right up the street from my flat!), Baldwin Street (considered to be the steepest residential street on Earth), and more pubs and bars than you can shake a mug at.

Dunedin Railway Station

Dunedin is also home to the University of Otago (where we will be attending this semester) and the brand new Forsyth Barr Stadium, home of the Highlanders Super Rugby team. The stadium is unique because it is the first (and for now only) covered stadium on the planet with natural turf. We'll be going to watch the Highlanders take on the Chiefs late next week!

University Clocktower

The Otago Peninsula that lies below Dunedin is considered one of the best cycling destinations in New Zealand. It provides magnificent views of the ocean and overlooks of Dunedin as well. I haven't seen it for myself yet but I can't wait to find some bikes and give it a ride.

Even though we've just arrived in Dunedin we'll be heading out to Queenstown early tomorrow for a weekend of tramping and exploring in the adventure capital of the world. I'll post an update of our adventures there as soon as I can (hopefully with bungy jumping videos as well!!). Once we have our student cards and don't have to worry about overusing the internet in our flats I'll upload all of the pictures we have so far and go into greater detail on some of the stuff we did during orientation on the north island.

See you later, and Kia Ora!