NZ Road Trip: Dunedin to Oamaru

Dunedin, NZ

Following a fantastic leg of our NZ Road Trip through the Catlins, Mac & I had a few down days in Dunedin. I strained my knee a bit on the Kepler Track and it was still acting up, so we decided that a few days spent resting in the hostel wouldn’t be the worst thing (especially after a few nights of camping!). It also allowed a certain basketball fan full on access to unlimited wifi to stream not one, but two Raptors games (GO RAPS GO!). Don’t worry though, we did leave the hostel a few times to explore the area!! We walked around a bit of Dunedin’s downtown and were especially enamoured with its train station. Not only is it a cool-looking building, but it was also home to a Saturday Farmers’ Market! We were a little late to the game and most stalls were sold out, but we did manage to snag a delicious pineapple-banana smoothie!

Tunnel Beach

One of the coolest things we saw was an area called Tunnel Beach. It’s only a 15 minute drive from Dunedin, then a 20-30 minute downhill walk to the main attraction. Once there, the ground gives way on either side to dramatic cliff faces.

This area gets is namesake from an actual tunnel leading down to the beach below. The steep & narrow tunnel lets you out on a beach full of boulders, large rocks, and eventually sand. The tide was just coming in when we arrived, so we didn’t stay long (this was fully realised when Mac was trying to make his way back up to the rocky/dry area but couldn’t find a through-way and as he was backtracking, his feet got soaked by an incoming wave!!). From below, we gazed up at the seemingly insanely high cliff/drop-off above.

After making our way up the tunnel, we made our way to that insanely high cliff that we saw from below. My nerves could only handle it for so long! The forceful waves below did not look welcoming and I didn’t trust my jittery feet for much longer! I loved Tunnel Beach, and would recommend it to anyone visiting Dunedin or surrounding area!

Otago Peninsula

One of the main attractions of the Dunedin region is the Otago Peninsula. The Peninsula is famously home to several albatross colonies as well as a little blue penguin (korora) nest. Though we didn’t end up seeing the penguins (the best time for viewing is when they return to their nests at dusk), we did spot an albatross, and several other birds hanging out on the cliff side.

The Royal Albatross Visitors Centre is up on top of a hill providing great views of the winding roads and waters below. The centre was also hugely informative about the many different kinds of albatross, as well as several other types of animals in the area (sea lions, many birds, penguins, etc).

Moeraki Blouders

About 30 minutes from Dunedin are the Moeraki Boulders. Situated on the Koekohe beach, these huge, spherical boulders area a big attraction for the area. They’re also very similar to the Koutu Boulders that Cristina and I saw on our day road tripping up the Kauri Coast in Northland! Wikipedia does a great job of describing how the boulders are formed, so check out this link if you’d like to learn more about them (in a much more articulated way than if I tried to describe them!!).

Mac & I got to the boulders just as it started to rain, so we didn’t stay long. I would have liked more time to look at these boulders in closer detail as they really are fascinating!

Oamaru, NZ

The highlight to our visit to Oamaru was visiting the Steampunk HQ workshop – but it was so cool that it deserves its own post! I’ll try and get it up next week hopefully! We weren’t in Oamaru for long, but we did take a stroll through downtown and to the harbour front. We popped into the Grainstore Gallery and were blown away by the eclectic-ness of it! It was half art gallery, half shop and it was amazing how many things were in this giant room!

The waterfront was also really cool. There were Steampunk-inspired play structures everywhere, as well as a great boardwalk for admiring the harbour. The rain followed us from Dunedin, so it was back to the warmth and dryness of the car for us!

This stretch of the highway in New Zealand isn’t as popular as Queenstown, the Fjordlands, or wine country, but what it lacks in fame it more than makes up for in character & charm (and a little bit of pizzazz – in the form of the Steampunk HQ Workshop. Stay tuned for that one!). The drive from Dunedin to Oamaru makes for a great leg of an NZ Road Trip – even with all the rain!