February 6th 2025 – Te Anau, New Zealand

Dunedin turned out to have much more to offer than expected. We had to extend our stay twice before being able to leave town with good conscience.
We had rented a room through Airbnb at Barry and Lynette’s house. We shared the house with them. They were wonderful hosts and did everything to spoil us. When we extended our stay they almost halved the price.

We spent a lot of time just exploring the city and sampling its offerings. One of the local gyms offered that we could use the facilities free of charge. It was a very nice classic old school gym for the big guys. The owner did 10 rep bench press pump sets with 160 kg/350 lbs without a spotter.
A heated saltwater pool by the beach, 45 minutes walk from our house, was another way for us to stay in shape. It was cool to hear the waves break and be surrounded by seals and surfers while doing laps.

We found a unique place in the neighbourhood to eat dinner. It was called The Bowling Club. It had nothing to do with bowling but was a place that made sure everyone got fed. For less than NZ$ 10 you got a huge delicious meal with dessert and drinks. If you couldn’t afford that you got the meal for free. Not surprisingly the place was very popular.

The city was dotted with nice old buildings. The best known are the university and the train station. The 160 years old botanical garden was worth a visit. It covered a big area and had significant elevation changes.
Elevation changes is a trademark of Dunedin. It made it a fun town to drive around and strenuous to walk.
According to Guinness World Records, Baldwin Street in the northern part of town is the steepest street in the world, so of course Katrine and I had to walk the length of it.
The city is surrounded by hills criss crossed with walking trails. We tried the Pineapple Track Walkway. It meandered its way through lush forest before it broke free of the trees to climb a big hill that offered a great panoramic view of the area.

Dunedin is located at the Otago Peninsula that is teeming with wildlife. One morning we drove to the northernmost part, Taiaroa Head, to visit the Royal Albatross Centre. It’s the only place in the world where albatrosses nest on a mainland. Usually they do it on remote islands only reached by boat. When the birds are not nesting they live their entire life at sea. It makes it very unlikely to ever see an albatross unless you are a sailor. We usually avoid organized tours, but had to participate in one to get to the nesting area. The eggs had just hatched so we had timed our visit perfectly. It was interesting to see the enormous grow birds with a wingspan of 3 meters, the fluffy chicks in the nests and learn more about the species.
We did a couple of detours on our way back to town. One of them went to Alans Beach to see sea lions.

We happened to be in town for the annual “Southern Motorcycle Show” so of course we had to go. The event was a mix of local clubs showing off their bikes and dealers from the area promoting their brands. It was a nice show. We talked with the locals and saw some cool machines. Being a rider and the proud owner of a Moto Guzzi our host Barry also showed up.
With less than 3 months until our return to Denmark I spent some of our time in Dunedin writing a CV and a couple of job applications. It was the first time in 25 years I’ve done that. I needed to do a bit of research before I started typing. The format for stuff like that has changed a lot since I last applied for a job. I enjoyed the challenge. The result went out to 3 different companies back in Denmark. I’m excited to see what responses I’ll get.

We could easily have spent more time in Dunedin, but were getting restless after 5 nights in town.
Barry and Lynette sent us off with a “safe journey and hope to see you again” as we rolled out the driveway. We followed The Southern Scenic Route all day. It took us to The Catlins – the southernmost part of the island. At Nugget Point we parked the car and hiked to the lighthouse. The views were absolutely stunning.

At McLean Falls it was time to stretch our legs again. The hike through the rain forest and the setting of the falls was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. We climbed the rocks to the upper fall. Hopefully I’ll never get too old to get a kick out of stuff like that.

Last stop of the day was Slope Point’s End – the southernmost point of the south island of New Zealand. Just before we got there we passed a farm advertising accommodation. We dropped in to secure a room for the night before driving the last bit.
The wind was roaring when we reached Slope Point’s End. Katrine had to hold onto her glasses and take care not to be blown off the cliffs.

Back at the farm we had the opportunity to witness the yearly shearing of the sheeps. They had been at it for 4 days at that point. The team that did the shearing moved from farm to farm during the season. One guy could shear around 250 sheeps during an 8 hour workday. It was clearly hard work. The guys were drenched in sweat. Imagine doing that days on end for a couple of months. We watched them do the rams. It was much harder work than the ewes. It took only 1 guy to handle the smaller females while it required 2 to 3 guys to handle a ram. They told us that the most important thing was to keep the 180 kg/400 lbs rams hooves off the ground to prevent them from gaining a foothold.

In the morning we continued on The Southern Scenic Route to Invercargill – Burt Munro’s home town.
We had breakfast in Queens Park followed by a walk through town. Classic Motorcycle Mecca on the main street is a highly acclaimed motorcycle museum. Having been at a motorcycle show just a few days before we decided not to go. Instead we visited the local hardware store E. Hayes & Sons. Aside from being a traditional hardware store they also have a big collection of interesting vehicles and machinery on display. The crown jewel being Burt Munro’s original Indian Scout used to set his many speed records. I spent a lot of time talking to Kevin Beaumont. He was showcasing his 2018 Ducati V4 Panigale 1103 super bike at the store because the Burt Munro Challenge (4 days of racing everything with 2 wheels and an engine) was coming up the following weekend.
After having spent most of the day in town, we drove the 10 km to Oreti Beach – a coastal highway and Burt’s famous test ground. It’s still allowed to drive on the beach so we took Bumblebee for a spin.
Late in the afternoon we decided that we had had our fill of Invercargill, Burt and classic bikes. The surrounding area was rather flat and dull so we set course for Fiordland, home of the biggest national park in the country.

We now entered the really touristy part of New Zealand and the prices for accommodation reflected that. It was time to dig out the tent. We found a very nice campground at the edge of Te Anau right by the lake. We would use it as our basecamp for a couple of days while exploring the area.

The next day we drove to Milford Sound. The road north put a smile on my face. It would have been a hoot on 2 wheels with good turns, elevation change and several one lane sections. The scenery was back to amazing.
Most people do a cruise on the fjord. We were not the least tempted to pay our weight in gold for a 2 hours cruise up and down the fjord on a boat packed with tourists. We spend the time doing a small hike on mostly empty trails instead. Milford Sound was beautiful even from there. Only the constant engine noise from a squadron of small planes and choppers showing tourists the fjords broke the tranquility.

On the way back we made a detour and parked the car on a gravel road going through a forest in the middle of nowhere. There was no one around but us as we explored the part of the woods that depicted Fangorn Forest in LoTR. It was pretty cool. From there we visited another filming location south of Te Anau.
A gravel road took us to an unmarked trailhead. An hour’s hike through dense forest rewarded us with a view of a section of the Waiau River that represented the River Anduin as the Fellowship paddled south from Lothlórien. The surrounding high peaks were used to depict the rough country south of Rivendell. It added to the atmosphere that we didn’t meet a single soul during the entire hike.