The road to Dunedin

Neil in the Speights shop!!
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Caught the early ferry (8am) from Stewart Island and carried on down the road to Dunedin (a Scottish influence here for sure) with our new bus driver - 'Noddy'.  It was a reasonably pleasant journey made all the better for the fact that there was a brewery tour at the end of it in Dunedin!!!!

There were some stops along the way, firstly at the end of Route 1 at the end of the South Island, then at Porpoise Bay to see some Hector's dolphins (couldn't see much tho' because the weather was rather bad, the next stop was to see some seals (they looked a bit vicious actually), and then a petrified forest - you could actually see the grain and the rings of the trees that were fossilized -and a few lovely beach views.

Dunedin really did have a feel of Edinburgh about it.

Some of the medals won by the brewery
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Dunedin really did have a feel of Edinburgh about it.  The Speights brewery tour got everyone set off on the right foot as the local rugby team were playing over in Australia that night so all the locals were in the bars watching the match and there was only one thing to do and that was to join them!!!

We timed our visit to Dunedin just right as the next day there was a particular event on the Saturday, which was a run around the town octagon when the clock struck 10!!!  The idea is that the runners start on the first chime and finish before the last!!! Unfortunatly it was not done again this year but it has been achieved in the past I believe.

Trying out the different brews!!!
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There was a market set up at the same time and so it was a great excuse for a mouch around the stalls and attractions.  There was even a random Canadian Lumbar jack competition!!!  I took a few pictures, including one of the most photographed train stations in the world!!!

At mid day we set off to return to Queenstown, which made me realise that my time in New Zealand was fast coming to an end as I fly out on Wednesday to Melbourne and another country!!!

On the way we stopped at the worlds steepest street!!! What a climb!!!  There were also some great photo opportunities on the way, with some beautiful clear blue lakes.