Day #19. Dunedin.

The "Steepest Residential Street in the World" exists in Dunedin.  Baldwin Street is the name.  Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to inform you, I hiked that sucker in the rain tonight!  :)  It's pretty steep alright, but as to whether it's the steepest… well, that's suspect.

This afternoon we arrived in Dunedin.  I booked my room at "On Top Backpackers" which was pretty central and had good reviews.  It was raining, but that didn't stop most of the bus from heading over to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory for a tour.  Quite a delicious tour, at that.  I learned all about the history of chocolate, how it is made, and why Cadbury is (of course) the best in the world!  After all, it is based in New Zealand.  Chocolate was first brought over to the Europeans by various explorers such as Christopher Columbus and some others in the 1600's.  It was served only as a thick, rich drink that you had to eat with a spoon.  Many years later the British discovered that adding milk to their chocolate drink made it even more spectacular.  Eventually, hard chocolate was made and became a world-wide sensation!  Today, Americans consume the most amount of chocolate per person.  The Cadbury tour was fascinating.  I learned that they were the first company to produce real white chocolate, known as the "Dream Bar."  The tour guide kept throwing all assortments of candy bars at us.  I tried at least one bite each of the Buzz Bar, Turkish Delight, a banana chew one, Cherry Chew bar, Dream Bar, a pink marshmallow-filled bar one that I didn't much care for, and… I think that's it.  I still have a few others in my bag that I didn't try but I was chocolated out!  At one point during our tour we were handed a shot glass full of rich, warm, decadent, runny, straight up chocolate.  It was so sweet I couldn't even finish it, and that is saying a lot cuz I have a huge sweet tooth.

After the factory tour I wandered around the city of Dunedin for nearly 2 hours.  George Street was really fun.  Lots of coffee stops, Asian take-out places, cafes, and funky boutiques.  I didn't indulge in anymore souvenirs today (aka clothes :)  Saw a few spectacular churches.  One was the First Presbyterian Church and the other was St. Paul's Cathedral.  The Dunedin University campus was really nice too, with the old library building and park.  A lot of the architecture here is old Victorian which I love.  Many pastel colors and detailed trimmings on the houses.  And those lace-like porches hanging on to the ancient buildings for dear life!  I loved the "Octagon", or the circular park at the heart of the city.  The restaurants looked amazing there, but I decided to be good and make fajitas back at the hostel :)  I read in my travel book that Gwen Paltrow and Coldplay's Chris Martin were spotted hanging around this area when one of them was doing a film nearby.  Some pub they really liked, but I forgot the name.  Oh, back to those Asian food places.  Would you believe it, but almost every single one was closed!!  Thai, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese… those places NEVER close. I still don't know what was going on.  A holiday or something??

I made myself the most delicious dinner tonight.  Went crazy at the New World Market earlier in the day and bought a whole bunch of fresh veggies!  So I fried up a sizzling pan of fajitas: orange pepper ("capsicum" they call it here), red onion, loads of mushrooms, and broccoli.  I even made some guacamole, chopped a hunk of cheese off the block I've been carrying around the past week, and put a dollop of sour cream on top.  People were staring at my plate of fajitas.  I think they wanted to steal it…. but I've learned my lesson.  HIDE yo tomato!  HIDE yo cucumber!  HIDE yo peanut butta!  Cuz they stealing EVERYTHING up in here!!!

After dinner I went back to my room, and... couldn't  even believe my eyes, but there was one of those Irish girls from Milford Sound!  What are the odds of that?!  :D  Her name is Annie and she's from Mayo (yup, that's in Ireland).  Traveling can be so random.  It was close to 7 pm and raining, but we decided that there was no way we could leave Dunedin in the morning without having walked up the "steepest residential street in the world" (according to Guinness Book of World Records).  We grabbed one of my other friends from the bus, the Irish dude that snores with an Irish accent (Ollie), and started off.  The front desk guy told us it was maybe a 30 min. walk to the street.  Try an hour there and an hour back!  In the rain!!!  It was so worth it though.  I mean, just think of it.  The steepest street in the world…. cooooooool.

We got soaked.  It was chilly out.  When we got back to the hostel, they rewarded themselves with hot showers while I inhaled a cup of tea and some wedges.  Wedges in New Zealand are a beautiful thing.  They surpass anything I have ever had in the States as far as crispy potato products are concerned.  Wedges are thickly cut, immaculately seasoned potatoes (skin on), deep fried to golden perfection and topped with luscious, spicy chili sauce and a huge serving of sour cream.  Ollie came downstairs and helped me finish them.  Then Annie joined us and told stories from her awesome adventures.  She is so cool!  She's 30 years old and has been traveling on her own for over 6 months now.  She's been all over South America, South Africa, Australia, and now New Zealand.  Really neat girl to talk with.  Wonder if we'll ever run into each other again… you never know in this small, small world.

Plan:  Lake Tekapo tomorrow

Budget:  $28 hostel, $25 produce, $8 tea and fresh date scone, $5 internet, $16 chocolate tour, $10 tea/wedges