Saturday Fun in Otepoti

Saturday 5 April

Significantly chillier - but still a sunny Saturday in bursts - we took the opportunity to see some of Dunedin’s quirkier sights.

First stop was the infamous Scarfies neighbourhood of Castle Street where student houses rule. It was the big Hyde Street Party day so there were heaps of gaggles of students in fancy dress heading down that way and I had the pleasure of meeting Bella and her gang who were Bananas in Pyjamas for the day. Also swung by the Six60 house where NZ’s favourite band of the last decade first started and got their name.

Castle Street is one of several streets in Dunedin dedicated to student digs (and wild parties) - each of the houses has a homemade sign out front and a name on it. Some of them were once rather lovely but decades of student occupation and abuse has taken its toll - the neighbourhood looks like a cut price Fraternity or Sorority neighbourhood at US university after a zombie apocalypse!

Next we popped across town to Baldwin Street - officially the steepest street in the world and home of the annual Jaffa rolling race - credit to Geoff Dolan who has commentated this event for several years! With an average incline of 1:5 but a peak at under 1:3 this is quite the climb! Tourists are banned from tackling it in their cars as many have got stuck in the past - but it’s only a suggestion!!! We saw at least 4 non residents revving their cars up it and testing the brakes on the descent.

The street is so steep that the pavement on one side has steps to assist the pedestrians - I loved the poem painted on one flight of stairs - created by The Step Sisters! It is hard to show on camera just how steep the street is as you look up and down it, but looking at the cottages near the start of the big climb you see the angle of the road against their horizontal plane it becomes more apparent. I love that the colourful cottage at # 30 has installed the mail box at street incline! Also made me laugh about the "no circulars" signage - surely they would just roll down the hill!

There is a bench halfway to give your calf muscles a rest, and a lovely wide bench at the top and mural showing the street and its surrounding area. To the left is a water fountain for much needed rehydration and beside that is a big concrete block called Hooper's Step added in 2019 after a 3 year old climbed the street but was then too short to reach the fountain - such a cute thing to add - for next time!

Tried to get lunch at the adorable Blacks Road Store, not far from Baldwin Street but we were a bit late so I bought two packs of my favourite TeaTotal Special Earl Grey instead. Did a quick google and headed back in the town centre where we snagged a table at Buster Greens which was fab and very busy and popular. Louis had a burger with ALL the chips and I went for a brunchy "Buster Greens Stack" - yum!

After all the calories, we made for the Botanic Gardens for a wander in their calm but hilly surroundings. I paused for a selfie in the Lebanese cypress grove by the big Cypress cone statue which was donated by Dunedin's Lebanese diaspora - who knew? Back in 1970, my dad was posted to Beirut for a year with BOAC, before being sent home for being judged to be a Jewish sympathiser. I only have photo memories as I was just 4 at the time, but it was apparently an amazing cosmopolitan, international city back then.

We went on a bit of a wild goose chase acorss the city to find the Moana Pools for Louis to have his first swim since Wakatipu & I went walkies around Otago Boys High - another gothic revival masterpiece.

Back at Banjo we had a noisy dinner as the cars from the stock car racing came rumbling in all evening, and we thought we’d spotted an old favourite - the Unimog we’d seen in CHC - but it was same same but different… still very impressive & butch!