Dunedin, New Zealand

We had breakfast at our lodge overlooking Tahakopa Bay, one of the last times this trip we’ll have such a great view of the ocean. Both of us though were looking forward to Dunedin, and being in an urban setting again for a couple days.

It’s under two hours to Dunedin, so we added in a detour to Nugget Point Lighthouse. We drove along a gravel road for the first 20 minutes from the lodge to get back to the Southern Scenic Route, and then quickly reached then turn off for Nugget Point. The last five km approaching the point is along The Nuggets Rd, which hugs the coastline, dotted with picturesque homes. It also narrowed to a single lane around tight bends - we were lucky to not encounter any caravans (camper vans) or minibuses going the other way.

We reached the parking lot, about 75% full. Not sure what happens in busy season, there’s not much room for overflow. Anyways, it was cold and windy so we put on all our winter gear for the ten minute walk to the lighthouse.

It’s a beautiful walk along the ridge, about 200m above the sea. We saw a couple canteens of royal spoonbills (amazingly, there is a collective noun for spoonbills) on the rocks below.

You get the classic view of the lighthouse along the path, with the ridge in the foreground and the large rocks (the ‘nuggets’) in ocean below. Spent a few minutes at the base of the lighthouse and then walked back to the car.

We had booked a tasting menu for dinner tonight so just wanted something small for lunch, and not too late in the afternoon. Stopped in Balclutha, a small town along the way. The town has a nice span bridge across the Clutha River. There wasn’t much in terms of cafe options - we ended up at Cafe 55 and split a club sandwich. It was served open-faced and messy to eat, but it was tasty.

Then we carried onto Dunedin. It reminded us of Hobart with the hilly streets and turn of the century architecture. It was a bit confusing to drive in, as some lanes suddenly become turn-only lanes. A couple u-turns later we arrived at the rear of our hotel, Fable Dunedin. Walked around to the front to figure out parking and checkin. Drove the car to the front to unload, and then the valet guy drove our car away, hopefully somewhere safe.

Our room was very small, with barely enough room to open our suitcases. Oh well, it was just for a couple days.

We walked into the Octagon, the centre of town. It’s bustling with pubs and churches and cinemas. It was drizzling a little so walked back to the hotel.

We had dinner at Moiety, in a beautiful old building. Our table wasn’t yet ready so we had a drink at the bar. It’s a 5-course tasting here. We also had some oysters from Marlborough to start, which were similar to the ones we had on Bruny Island. We liked all the courses. It took a while to get through dinner, almost three hours. We got home quite full.