Dunedin

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CS picnic in Dunedin

The city of Dunedin in New Zealand is so rich in culture it rivals the other cities as the birthplace of many attractions. It's founders were from Scotland and this influences its heritage with bag pipers, Scottish tourist shops, a street plan based on a road map of Edinburgh and the University clocktower modeled on the one in Glasgow. It has the first University, botanic gardens and newspaper of New Zealand. It's buildings preserves some of the best British styled architecture from the late 1800's.

The home of Dunedin is its students. To spend some time with them is to truly uncover what it is like to live in the ghetto of student ville. Cold, depressing, dirty, damp flats, but future friends to call on for the rest of your life. You are always welcome, but come prepared for the experience. Dunedin is also home to some amazing wildlife, (like the rare yellow eyed penguin) plenty of student pubs, a chocolate factory and houses the best atmosphere in New Zealand for a rugby match at Carisbrook.

1 Meetings
2 Getting in touch
3 Tips
4 Attractions
5 CouchSurfers
6 Media Mentions

Meetings

Check out the Dunedin group for updates on what's happening. You can create a meeting too!

Getting in touch

There is a small but growing Couchsurfing presence growing in Dunedin after some great media exposure recently.
The groups has met in the Gardens, and at Arc cafe.
There are about 80 members here, and at the right time of the year, you will have no problem finding a couch. Meeting up for a drink is an important part of the Dunedin culture whether it is a coffee and a trendy cafe, or a beer at a student pub.

Tips

The students bring all the culture to Dunedin. However in winter with an air temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, it is common to find it colder inside a flat. Ask first if your host has heating or extra blankets if you are concerned about that. Alcohol is a common remedy to prevent one from feeling the cold.
Student pubs like The Bowler, The Cook and Gardies are popular and are a hive of activity from Wednesday onwards. Refuel, Arc, Backstage and The Crown have live music regularly. Any of the bars in the Octagon are lively and a good place to go dancing.

The Peninsula has an abundance of wildlife. It has penguins, the only mainland albatross colony, seals and sea lions. A (Elm wildlife) tour takes you to see some, but if you have a car drive out to Allans or Sandfly beach to find seals, and in the twilight some penguins walking up the beach.

More attractions like the Speights brewery has a 15 minute drink testing session. So when the tour is quiet go and chat up the tour guide to get the most out of your free alcohol. Baldwin St is the steepest street in the world, located in the north east valley. Walk, run or drive up it for a real experience.

Attractions

At the start of the year is the "Gut buster" race where participants 'run' up the steepest street in the world.
Come to the city in the month of February to see all the students party and see some choice New Zealand concerts while you are here. Plenty of things happen during lunch time on the university lawn. Look out for posters.
In the month of May is capping time, where students graduate, and present students honour them. On the Saturday they process down George St with bagpipers and many onlookers. Afterwards in the Octagon every one has the chance to party one last time.
A must in the weekends of winter is to see the Otago Highlanders defend their pride in a rugby match. The students dress up in yellow and blue and scream, "Ottttaaaaaaaggo" from the Terrace, so make sure you are amongst it. Highlight games of the year are against traditional rivals, like Canterbury.
Every year it will snow in Dunedin which is a mad time of students and others having snow ball fights with everyone, riding down streets in oven dishes and being towed behind a car on a snow board. It's a crazy time, as the city shuts down, which surprises many Canadian and central and northern Europeans. They say, "That's not snow!"
The Winter solstice has a lantern procession and fire performance in the octagon. Out in central Otago, there is a all night party with many revellers. As always, it gets COLD.
At the start of the second semester the students return to party. The chocolate carnival has some great events. Chocolate wrestling at the University lawn and thousands of tiny chocolate balls, (jafas) are released down Baldwin St.
On the advent of spring a wave of excitement fills the streets. With the much needed warmth parties return outside especially along Castle St. A trip to the Peninsula at this time shows an abundance of lambs and other animals, and maybe even seal pups.
In October the student have exams and the weather is fantastic. Once exam time ends students party one last time for the year before they move away for holiday.
By November the student ghetto is abandoned, but there is still plenty to do. Some more Graduation ceremonies are in December, and the beaches become full of school kids.

CouchSurfers

Meeting Organisers

Do you want to be a Dunedin organiser?

Coffee or a drink

Free internet and usual meeting point: Arc Café, High Street

Vegan food: Circadian Rhythm, St Andrew St (all vegan)
Arc Café, High St
Hari Krishna lunches, Albany St, only during university time.

Students

Dunedin has a large student community. Which means that it has several student CouchSurfers. They are trying to become a Club at Clubs and Socs (which belongs to the Uni), so they can do more activities.