The city of Dunedin is a place with a large Scottish influence and is nicknamed "Edinburgh of the South". However despite the fact that there are some beautiful Scottish style buildings including the spectacular railway station the city in general is quite drab and does very little to deserve being mentioned in the same breath as Edinburgh, one of the world's most beautiful cities. There were however some highlights. Located inside the railway station is the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, an interesting museum dedicated to the greatest sports people the country has produced over the last century. Interestingly enough it was not the All Blacks rugby union team that received the most attention in this establishment but rather the country's greatest track and field athletes (in particular the legendary milers Peter Snell and John Walker) that got the most recognition, much to my own personal satisfaction.
Another great site which Dunedin has to offer is Baldwin Street the world's steepest street. 350 metres in length this road reaches a lung puncturing maximum gradient of 35% . Walking up Baldwin Street wasn't enough for me however, I needed to attempt running to the top and so myself and two others set off on a journey filled with insanity. The first 100 metres were fine with only a gentle slope. However it then got very ugly altogether with the gradient increasing rapidly reducing me to a pathetic looking shuffle. My legs felt weak and realising that I was barely moving quicker than walking pace I stopped running and decided on the method of transport that most normal people chose. Once the slope eased a bit I began to run once more and reached the top eventually completing the full distance in 3 minutes 7 seconds. Regardless of the sense (or lack there of) of running up such a steep hill it does not compare to the stupidity of one chap's decision to run down this street in bare feet. How he managed to stay on his feet is beyond me!
The next stop on our journey around the South Island was Lake Tekapo. Here I undertook a short 1 hour hike to the top of Mount John where I enjoyed a stunning panoramic view of this beautiful turquoise coloured lake. It certainly is right up there with Abel Tasman National Park and Milford Sound in being one of the most picturesque places I have seen in the country. After a relaxing couple of days here we continued northwards to Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island, a place with a very large English influence. The bus driver remarked that this city "is more English than England itself". While such a comment is completely false and nothing more than a pathetic tourist gimmick I was nonetheless pleasantly surprised at the beauty of this city. After being to Dunedin I was expecting another ugly city but to be fair to Christchurch it has a lot of beautiful old English style grey bricked buildings, with the majority of these being churches. Walking around the town admiring these old buildings was a pleasant experience. It is just a shame that so many of them are surrounded by the not so spectacular skyscrapers which have ruined so many cities around the world.
The final few days of the Magic Bus tour were not quite so exciting and after taking the Interislander ferry back to Wellington on the North Island we proceeded to head towards Auckland in almost an exact reverse of the route we had travelled three weeks earlier when starting our trip, something which seemed completely pointless. The weather didn't help and since Christchurch it rained constantly making the final few days of my time in the country feel like I have been just sitting around waiting for my flight to Melbourne.
This leads me on to my opinion of the Magic Bus. There is no doubt that there are many positives to travelling with this hop-on hop-off bus company. Throughout this journey I have met many brilliant people and have had the pleasure of being able to travel with them for an extended period of time, something which rarely happens when you travel independently. During my time in South America I regularly had to say goodbye to lots of great people who I only got to know for two or three days but in New Zealand I was with many of the same crew for as long as two weeks.
Another benefit to travelling with Magic Bus is that they literally do everything for you. They bring you from location to location and book all your hostels and activities on your behalf. The only responsibility you have is to be able to drag yourself out of bed at the appropriate time. All of this combines to make travelling around New Zealand very easy. Too easy however in my opinion. What made my trip around South America so rewarding was that I did absolutely everything for myself, and 99% of it in my limited knowledge of a foreign language. This made making my way around such a large land mass quite a challenge at times, but that's what makes travelling so much fun in the first place. In New Zealand I felt like I haven't needed to think at all.
At times I have been quite unimpressed with the Magic Bus. Along with the fact that they wasted a couple of days bringing us back to where we had already been during the start of our trip there are also too many stops at random cafes which the company blatantly have alliances with. I want to be brought to nice scenic parts of New Zealand, not some rubbish establishment which charges 5.50 dollars for a scrawny sandwich. Also as the Magic Bus only travels from each place four times a week quite often we were given the choice of having to stay either one or three nights in each location when two nights was what was required. This is something which almost everybody was annoyed about.
Culturally New Zealand is not very different from Ireland and the UK and so my recent blog entries have been lacking the sort of crazy stories that made such regular appearances in my South American blogs. However there are a few slight oddities that I have come across:
1) For those who enjoy a game or two of pool you will be familiar with the "2 shot rule". If somebody fouls then his/her competitor is entitled to two shots as a punishment for his/her poor play. Not in New Zealand however. As long as the foul was an "honest mistake" and not deliberate then the unfortunate competitor has to continue on with just one shot. Pure madness but as it was not my country I had no say. I still managed to beat this local who explained the rules of "Kiwi Pool" to me anyway so no harm done!
2) Anybody who has been to the USA will be well aware of how strict bars and liquor stores are when selling alcohol and ID is almost always required to be shown before the transaction is complete. The drinking age there is 21 so this kind of makes some sense. In New Zealand the age at which somebody can consume alcohol is 18. Despite this the Kiwis are far stricter than the Americans. Yes it can be taken as a compliment if somebody thinks you look younger than you really are but there is no chance whatsoever that I look 17 years of age! What is worse is that they don't even feel stupid and embarrassed when they find out how far off they were in predicting how old a customer is. The shock on the face of a Dutch backpacker in my Magic Bus group when he was asked for ID was quite a sight. This man was 28 years old!
3) Christmas is fast approaching around the world with businesses and schools about to close in time for the festive period. In New Zealand however you would hardly know that it is the season to be jolly. There are very few decorations on the streets, very little Christmas music being played inside the shops and even less carol singing on the streets. I have tried hard to get into the festive spirit but it really just does not feel like Christmas down here. It is almost as if the New Zealanders are bitter that they will never have the white Christmas portrayed in the Hollywood movies and so decide to not fully embrace it as a result. I'm sure this is not the case and that the people down here enjoy this time of the year in their own way but it does at times come across like that.
Overall my time in New Zealand has been very enjoyable. I have seen some spectacular scenery such as Abel Tasman, Milford Sound and Lake Tekapo and I have met some fantastic people and had an enormous amount of craic. It has to be noted though that much of New Zealand's landscape is almost identical to that of Ireland. While this may be appealing to many tourists it is difficult for an Irish person to get excited about green hills and fields filled with hundreds of sheep and personally I found a lot of the scenery quite boring as a result. However there is no doubt that the South Island is far more impressive than the North and this is where you will find most of the country's stunning lakes, fjords, mountains and beaches.
So my time of travelling has come to an end for now and tomorrow I fly out to Melbourne where I intend to work for awhile. The last 14 weeks have been a wonderful experience. I have met so many great people (with the English and the Dutch being comfortably the most banter), seen so much incredible scenery and different cultures. It certainly has been a time I won't easily forget and I look forward to much more travelling over the coming year.
Thanks for reading up to now and Merry Christmas.
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