Dunedin (Days 19 - 22) 

After our amazing trip to the spa we started the very long drive to Dunedin (around 4 hours from Queenstown.) The drive took all afternoon and we eventually reached Dunedin when it was dark. We went into the city to find something to eat and ended up at a really good and decently priced Japanese restaurant just off the main square (or octagon as it's called) where the sushi was awesome. We also saw an impromptu Haka performed on the main street, stopping traffic and pedestrians alike. We were quite impressed with Dunedin already, also it was a big city, much to our surprise as we had never heard of it before arriving in the country. 

The first day in Dunedin we woke up early (again) and went to St Clair beach and, right next door, St Kilda beach. After assessing the waves at both locations the obsessive surfer deemed St Kilda the better of the two and went off to surf. Unfortunately, it was again proving incredibly hard to paddle out and after a few attempts he left the water and told me that it was absolutely freezing cold (and thus the reason he was unable to paddle out to the waves.) We managed to eventually find somewhere  wetsuits could be hired, and getting a thicker wetsuit, the super obsessive surfer again tried to catch some waves, with a bit more luck this time. (I say super obsessive as it takes real love to face this water temperature - it was genuinely freezing.) At this point he dramatically announced that today would probably be his last day surfing of the whole trip as it was just too cold (and he hates cold weather more than walking.) 

With that we decided to have a look round the city and saw some of Dunedin's landmarks i.e. the train station (the building was an interesting sight and Dunedin had more impressive architecture than the majority of New Zealand cities we had visited - perhaps because of its Scottish heritage but who knows?) We also wandered around some of the Streets, following a map of famous street art in Dunedin, and saw some cool artwork tucked away down streets throughout the city. 

That evening we decided to get a half metre long pizza (which sounds big but isn't even vaguely a challenge) between us at one of the central restaurants. Feeling adventurous we decided to get a nacho pizza, which was confusing but actually quite good too. However, unsurprisingly this wasn't enough for us (as we eat enough to feed two fully grown elephants) and so we then found a supermarket and stuffed ourselves with some extra food. 

The next day we again headed straight for the beach, even though the obsessive surfer had previously declared he would never surf again in New Zealand. After watching the waves for approximately 5 minutes he decided perhaps he would have one more surf. I'm guessing the waves were pretty good as surfer's stood around exclaiming that 'it was on' and 'the waves were sick' and 'gnarly' (and far too big for me - the humble beginner - so I took to my other role as Professional surf photographer for the morning.) 

That afternoon we drove down the Otago Peninsula in search of wildlife - specifically the chance of seeing penguins and albatross. We reached the penguin area only to be told that you were only able to view the penguins if you paid for a guided tour (for only $99pp!) Upon hearing this price we very quickly headed for the exit and went on to the albatross area. Again though we were told if we wanted to see the albatross we would have to pay $50, which again wasn't going to happen. Luckily we went to a viewpoint about two minutes walk away where we could see the enormous albatross flying over the cliffs (and enormous is really not an exaggeration here.) We also went down to a little beach (which was closed at sunset so that they could charge you to see the penguins arriving at dusk) and were lucky enough to see three seals basking in the sun. So although we didn't manage to find any penguins we did see some seals and albatross and avoided paying a substantial amount of money (double yay.)

Before it got dark we quickly stopped off at Baldwin Street, which is the steepest street in the world (see pictures), although pictures don't quite reflect the steepness of this street. We watched several cars do the climb up but decided against driving Ned to the top incase he died on the way.

We aimed to leave the next morning to go to Tekapo but the obsessive surfer upon checking the internet for the surf said thatreally we should go to the Dunedin beaches immediately instead. This time the waves looked a little less scary and I had a go too. Although I somehow managed to get stuck in the middle of the smashing waves which wasn't too much fun, and added to this had a serious case of brain freeze from the appallingly cold water. Consequently, after this ordeal I decided to stick to the slightly smaller waves and played in these, whilst the obsessive surfer surfed the real waves. We then were ready to begin our journey towards Tekapo, another fairly long drive for Ned, stopping at a free campsite about 50km from Tekapo.