12.-13.12. - Day 6-7 - Dunedin

After our beautiful and scenic little mountain tour, we got ready in the early afternoon for the approximately 4-hour drive to Dunedin.

This small town with 50,000 inhabitants on the southern west coast of New Zealand has the Celtic name for Edinburgh, which should make it clear who founded it about 230 years ago.

Dunedin is also considered the last major town before the south of the South Island - the so-called 'Catlins' - which are famous for their solitude and wild beauty and would be our destination for the next few days.

The drive to Dunedin was unspectacular and beautiful, we were almost alone on the road and the trunk only opened twice.

The landscape changed - after we had left the lakes behind - from 'Scotland' to more of a 'Slovakian coast' until after a few hours it turned into a lush green forest-meadow mixture reminiscent of the 'Sauerland' or 'Bavarian Forest' with palm trees.

When we arrived in Dunedin it was already 9:00 p.m., which in such a small town means that almost everything is already closed. So we quickly got a kebab (actually surprisingly one of the best in a long time), enjoyed the hot shower (unusually great after two days of washing ourselves with icy meltwater) and fell into bed before midnight due to a lack of pubs... The name 'Edinburgh or Dunedin' really doesn't live up to its promise ;-).

The next morning we took care of everything that you can still do before a few days of solitude... shopping, refueling, getting another coffee at Starbucks and of course eating fish and chips... It was great that the students of the local mini university were coincidentally celebrating their graduation and parading through the city wearing gowns, hats, and bagpipes. At the end, shortly before we continued to the Catlins, there was actually a touch of Scottish flair.