The most Scottish city of New Zealand
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It was built in a natural harbour on a relatively small area of flat land surrounded by steep hillsides. Naturally, some of the streets are very steep, like the Baldwin Street which was the steepest street in the world until 2019. Dunedin has a highly Scottish influence as it was built after the model of Edinburgh. It has the oldest university in the country, Otago University which was founded in 1864, so many students can be found in the city.
Approximately 6 hours it took for me to get to the city in the south of New Zealand by bus. On the way I noticed many fields full of sheep. After all, the country has more sheep than man.
Meeting my new travel partner from the US
A buddy of mine recommended the city. One thing and another led to my ending up at the Manor House. I had to accept this hostel, because the others I wanted to go to were already booked out. The next morning I met the US-American girl Brittany from Arizona, with whom I should explore the South Island the next days. She was in New Zealand for a Working Holiday Visa and shared the same love for travel & vegan food.
We had arranged to meet via CouchSurfing, because she had almost the same travel route as me and was going to rent a car. For me it was out of question to rent a car, although the best way to explore New Zealand is by car or even better by camper. But even a car for camping or renting a camper van costs at least 1000 $ per week! On top of that there are parking costs etc. However, in New Zealand there are convenient ways to return rental cars to their place of origin at a reasonable price, sometimes you don't pay more than 1 $ for them. Very handy!
Baldwin St - The Steepest St in the world
With Brittany I climbed the steepest road in the world, for which Dunedin was in the Guinness Book of Records until 2019 (until a Welsh road replaced it). The maximum gradient of the almost 350 meters long Baldwin Street is about 35%. Due to the extreme gradient, it was built of concrete instead of asphalt, as asphalt would melt and slide down the road on hot days. Before entering the street there is even a sign indicating that from here on there is no turning possibility anymore. This requires a lot from the engine of the cars! Even on foot you get into quite a sweat!
Beautiful university and train station
Afterwards we visited the Otago Museum, one of the biggest museums in the country, where you learn a lot about the history of the country and the cultures, animals and plants that have inhabited it. For lunch we met a local who took us to a cheap student cafeteria. It cost less than 5 NZ$. Finally a cheap meal in New Zealand!
Among the most beautiful buildings in the city are the university and the former train station with Victorian architecture. In the afternoon we spent our time in a modern art museum and we asked the information desk how to get to the Otago Peninsula, which is about 1.5 hours away. There you can watch for example albatrosses and penguins. The people there only wanted to talk us into totally overpriced tours. No thanks!
After 4 pm I wanted to have a coffee somewhere, but without exception all coffees were already closed - and that on a sunny Sunday! Most of the New Zealand cities are like villages, everything closes extremely early!
Infected insect bite from the hostel
I cooked myself some dinner and was about to go to bed when I suddenly noticed that the sting I got the night before in the hostel was extremely swollen and even worse a red line was coming out of it. And on this day of all days Brittany had told me that she had had an untreated sting on her back that she hadn't noticed for a long time and thus the infection had already entered her bloodstream. As a result, she had to undergo several operations and take antibiotics for weeks because the infection kept recurring. She still has scars on her body from the stings, which probably came from a spider. My stings probably came from a flea. I had such stings already 3 times in South America and I always got antibiotics and antihistamine and the matter was solved quickly.
More than 6 hours in the hospital!
In the small town of Dunedin no doctor or pharmacy is open 24 hours a day as I knew it from other countries. I did not want to wait until the next morning either. Firstly because Brittany wanted to leave early in the morning and secondly I didn't want to spend an extra night in this dirty hostel anyway. So I walked to the public hospital just before midnight. It was one of the most horrible nights of my life. Over 6 hours I had to wait in that goddamn hospital, but all I wanted was to get a prescription for some medicine. First they made me sit in the waiting room for 4 hours and then they put me on a crappy bed and didn't even give me a blanket or give a damn about me despite the cool temperatures. I had to complain first before I got a blanket. Finally at 6.30 am the doctor came and prescribed what I needed. A possible birthday party (my birthday was a few days later) was therefore no longer considered an option, because for the next 2 weeks I had to take 8 tablets every day. I got much better treatment in other less developed countries like Peru or Mexico. At least the hospital stay was free of charge and the infection went away quickly afterwards.
When I returned to my hostel I caught up on some sleep on the couch and eventually demanded my money back for the night I had to spend in the hospital. A few hours later Brittany picked me up and we drove further west to Te Anau. I was glad I could leave Dunedin behind, not a city I connect good memories with.
