FRIDAY to SUNDAY, 11th – 13th November
After catching some sun on the Peninsula, I had to experience some rain in Dunedin. It wasn’t that nice on FRIDAY and the best way to spend it was to stay inside. But I didn’t stay at the backpackers all day. In the early afternoon, I went to the iSite to book tours to Cadbury Chocolate Factory and Speight’s Brewery. Buying a combo ticket for $39 saved me $3, almost enough for a cup of coffee.
My tour to Cadbury World was at 2 pm, so I took a slow walk from the Visitor Centre on the Octagon to the factory passing First Church on the way.

It started to rain just before our tour and kept pouring for the rest of the day.
Cadbury World

Before we started the tour, we had to put caps on, like this kid was still wearing after the tour was over.

We couldn’t take any pictures inside the factory. We saw Easter eggs being already made. Our guide told us, they had started their production in June or July and they would be making them until January. All the eggs will be eaten by New Zealanders within a week. An average Kiwi eats 10 Easter eggs, so do the maths how many eggs Cadbury have to make.
For some people the tour could be boring, because even though the guide tried to keep us entertained and was coming up with different quiz questions and giving sweet awards, most things we saw were presented on DVD. At the end of the tour we saw a chocolate fall – one tone of liquid chocolate being poured down. It was just a tourist attraction, not something what they do with their chocolate to make it better. Every year they change it giving the old chocolate to pigs and filling up with the new one.
The loot. We got four chocolate bars, tasted some liquid brown elixir (very sweet!) and I bought the rest. The block that looks like a bitten chocolate bar is a fridge magnet and it smells like chocolate. 🙂

In the afternoon, at 6 pm, I took a tour at Speight’s Brewery. Somehow, it was more interesting that Cadbury World and I could take photos. This one was taken the next day, when it was drier. On the left, there was a tap with spring water for free and people were coming all the time with plastic bottles to fill them up.

The line “walk like an Egyptian” gained a new meaning when I saw this board:

Chimney with its top in the shape of a barrel


And at the end of the tour we got about half an hour to try their five kinds of beer and cider, but I had enough after 10 minutes.

On SATURDAY the weather got much better and it was a perfect day to explore the city.
Dunedin, Edinburgh of the South, has a lot of old buildings and was the only city in New Zealand where I sometimes felt that I was back in Britain. I was even expecting to hear the Scottish accent everywhere! The first settlers were Scots who had the plans of Dunedin already on their ship. They didn’t consider the hills in their city plans though, so they had to adjust them to the geography of the region. I think they did pretty well.

I liked walking around Dunedin, because everything was close to each other, apart from Baldwin Street.
Starting from the Octagon, the Occupy movement in front of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Town Hall.

I enjoyed exhibitions at Dunedin Public Art Gallery at the Octagon and then Temple Gallery where used to be a synagogue.

Going up the hill, I passed the Brewery and got to St Joseph’s Cathedral

Otago Boys High School

Knox Church

The Otago Museum was pretty cool and I loved the exhibition about Edmund Hillary and with his personal belongings, like his cup, sunglasses and this camera.

I could learn about him a lot that day. I got a little bit depressed too when I realized he was 33 years old when he conquered the Everest and I was about to finish my 33rd year of life on this earth in a couple days and I was trying to find my achievements… with no success.
Opposite the Otago Museum, there was University of Otago. Clocktower building.

Castle Street, further down there were student houses and they were busy when I was coming back that way. Some had fun throwing shoes on the wires, others were sitting on sofas outside chatting and drinking beer.

But I was on my way to Baldwin Street, so I went through Botanic Gardens

Had a short stop over at New World supermarket to have something to eat, because I needed some energy if I wanted to climb the World’s Steepest Street and even from Botanic Gardens there was still quite a walk to get there.
Finally, Baldwin Street. Check out the Wikipedia link to read “Associated events” about Jaffas race and a stupid way of losing your life in a trash bin.

and from the top


The World’s Steepest Pub 😀

Back in the centre. Railway station


Otago Daily Times

And I deserved a cup of coffee after all those kilometers around the city. When I returned to the hostel, some people were getting ready for Big Day In, a free concert at the Stadium, but I was too tired to go and I couldn’t find any information about who was playing, only local artists.
In the evening I was trying to book InterCity bus tickets to Moeraki to see the boulders, but I had some difficulties. I gave myself one more day in Dunedin to organize the trip, but it didn’t work out, so on SUNDAY I stayed in chilling out and socializing. One of the travelers advised me to go to Oamaru and from there take a tour to Moeraki, because it was closer and cheaper. I had some spare days, so I decided to do that.