Attaching Bo gummy new song here! And oh-the-feels when I watched this MV cos it was shot in New Zealand!!! Ever since I left NZ it feels like I have left a part of my soul there as well. Glad that his MV sort of bring me back to the good old times. They even bought the 1L milk from Pams? Or Meadowfresh for Bo gummy's breakfast at 00.23 // The deets, wow!
The MV setting was in Dunedin at first, with the highly recognisable Octagon Square and Dunedin Train Station as the background. I've personally been to Dunedin 3 times, and twice was by chance. I still remember the first time we stepped foot there in last year's mid July. It was the time when I abruptly ditched the pine tree job at Tokoroa and began our Yolo South Trip, with Cadbury's Chocolate Festival as the first stop on our all-the-way-South journey. I suddenly realise that I'm pretty bold in making life-changing decisions, oops. Can't really blame myself on this, I just tend to follow my feelings, and I don't like to live with regrets after learning how torturing it can be.
Okay so back to Dunedin, the place where I have love-hate feelings with. First of all, weather is super unstable here. We were really looking forward to the Jaffa race which was supposed to be held on mid July. Guess what, it was postponed due to heavy rain. And we were trapped in the town for like 3 days due to severe floods on the road. Big LOL. And I ditched my job for this you know *sky are you playing a joke on me* So anyway we enjoyed ourselves there, exploring almost every crook and corner in town. We even went to ask the i-site on what activities we can do there; and we went as far as Googling "activities to do on rainy days". Hahahah, I remember holding that piece of art wall brochure as we went art-hunting on the streets.
And well, while I'm at it, here are a few places we dined in at Dunedin. The food are fairly good and pretty big portion so it's alright for sharing too. Few worth mentions are Nova, Capers, Vogel St Kitchen, Velvet burger, Chopsticks 101, Cadbury cafe, and yes they even have Chatime and Starbucks here! They are all within walking distance and this town is quite central, the backpackers are all located near Octagon and Dunedin Train Station!
Nova's doughnuts are super yums!
Injectable doughnut - Salted caramel
Nova @Octagon
DIY injections
Octagon view
Octagon (The square is really shaped octagonally)
View from Octagon
Trail walk - Do you know Dunedin is NZ's oldest town?
Art hunting on streets
Capers
Very filling pancakes
They have different menu of the day too!
Chatime!
Vogel St Kitchen
Vogel St Kitchen
Cadbury cafe
Salted caramel again!
Chinese food
Yayyys hot pot
Oh dear I am turning this post into a food post! Back to the topic, so our first Dunedin trip was purely sightseeing (and eating). We went to the museum, to the university, to the garden, to the chocolate factory, to the steepest street in the world. Thinking back, we really enjoyed the moments although we literally have nothing. No job, no home, no plans, just Yolo. We initially wanted to go further east of Dunedin to see the penguins but the road was flooded. It was kinda scary as the road has no barrier and right beside us is the big wide ocean. Gasp. And yes we also wanted to visit the only castle in NZ, Larnach Castle -- but you have to pay to enter. We wandered outside the gate but can't even catch a glimpse of it. Otoe even played Ed Sheeran's "Castle on the hill" as we thought we were approaching. Funny us, but we heard that this castle has turned into a tourist spot and it's quite pointless to visit because it has turned into sort of a "hotel" now.
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Second trip to Dunedin was approximately one month later. We went back to this town for the Jaffa race (finally)! Last year was their last race because of their factory closure and some other reasons. Jaffa race was also the main reason I ditched Tokoroa's job. I've never heard of this race before, neither do I know that the steepest street in the world is located right here in NZ. After Otoe introduced us to this Chocolate festival, I watched the video on Youtube and decided that I must be there to witness this event for the first and last time. I remember we gathered a group of working mates to come along with us, and we head there on a Friday right after work.
We celebrated Otoe's birthday the first thing on Saturday, before boarding the free bus to the Jaffa race. The crowd was crazy. I didn't know that there are so many people in Dunedin, or that public would be as crazy as me to come all the way for this race. It was gold. I'm glad that I was there in person. And lucky us, the race went as expected, but it rained almost right after the event finish! Unstable weather to the max.
Steepest street in the world -- Baldwin St
Jaffa race
Free jaffas
Group photo
Oh, so much feels as I typed this post. This time round, we explored the Tunnel Beach, went cliff-posing, and had fun like crazy kids at the train station. Tunnel Beach got its name because you literally have to pass through a tunnel to get access to the beach. And this place belong to some rich guy in the past but he opened it to the public after his lover passed away, there are different stories about this place which you can find online. The view is breathtaking, and hiking our way back took our breath away too, literally. It was my first time standing on a cliff too, and both my legs turned into jelly instantly LOLLL.
Later on we went to the train station and decided to take a jump-shot group photo. Well we obviously failed, as all of us don't have telepathy to do jump shots together. We only get to know each other on that day itself, wells. Glad that I've covered this place with lovely people along the way.
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I revisited this town en route to Tekapo on my road trip with sister earlier this year. It was summer, and we witnessed a big fire right beside us when we entered Dunedin via the highway. Weather was again unstable, imagine forest fire in the afternoon and big storm at night! We only managed to visit Baldwin street to please the sister's curiosity. Thanks to the uncle at the holiday park who taught us how to use the electricity on the caravan. Learning new things along the way is really exciting!
And yes I should really start a new adventure now *sniffles*
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