We spent a few days in the student city Dunedin catching up with our good friend Hamo. With many beautiful historic buildings and loads of outdoors things to do, we really enjoyed our time here. We left dreaming about being a bit younger and going to uni again! 

​Below is our little guide of some of the things you can get up to here. One thing we highly recommend doing but don't have any photos of is going to a rugby game and getting tickets in the student zone, also known as the 'zoo'! It was a bit of a laugh and provided some great entertainment. 

Head out to the Dunedin Peninsula to see the Blue penguins come in from sea. You can also go on an albatross tour but there is no guarantee you will see one, in contrast to the penguins where you will see between 40 and 200 depending on the time of year. 

The penguins are hilarious to watch and listen to. They are so loud, making crazy noises - some angry, some happy! Heading to shore at sunset, the penguins go to the same burrows with their same buddy. Though they can be known to share buddies on occasion! 

The tour costs $35 each, but is definitely worth it. And half of this goes into conservation for the area. 

Tunnel Beach is another one of natures wonders with crazy rock formations. The rugged ocean line is a great little adventure suitable for all ages. 

​Said to be the only castle in NZ but apparently there is another castle also in Dunedin! In contrast to castles in Europe this is pretty lame, but it is an interesting piece of NZ history worth heading to see. 

You can walk around the grounds which are beautifully kept, and see inside the castle. We were fortunate enough to be let in for free which was an added bonus! There are beautiful views out towards the peninsula from one of the balconies.  

The steepest street in the world, and home to our first trip selfie! 

St Bathans takes you back in time to the 1800's. Steeped in history from the gold mining days with a dazzling landscape, St Bathans is famed for its startling man-made Blue Lake and the Vulcan Hotel, said to be haunted. 

We arrived at night, in fog so thick it was a bit of a mystery as to the landscape surrounding us. All we knew - it was bloody freezing! 

Freezing it was, as we woke up to the most amazing frost. I have never seen anything like it! Everything was frozen, from the grass to tall trees. A layer of mist sat hovering over the fields and the sky tinged with pink from the reflection of the sunrise. A casual -10 degrees, we had a few more troubles than finding enough clothes to wear on our walk this morining! 

Benny was met with a spark when we turned on the water pump - the spark plug blown. The water pump was frozen solid, and all our water pipes frozen. The solution was to take the water pump out, rest it in front of the heater, and to pour hot water over all the pipes to get them to melt too. Note this was still the case at 3pm when it came time to fix it! 

From the Doc campsite, there is a walk that takes you to the lake with options to walk around it or do a little loop track. The lake is man made from the gold mining days. By 1933, miners had sluiced the 120-metre Kildare Hill into a 69-metre "Glory Hole" - at that time the deepest mining hole in the Southern Hemisphere.
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​The operation had to be halted because the sides of the pit were getting too close to the town. The huge hole was filled with water, with the minerals in the surrounding rocks giving the lake its startling turquoise hue.

​Established in 1863, this Central Otago town once consisted of more than 2000 miners and a surprising 13 hotels. Now the permanent population is less than 10. We strolled through town to view restored stone fences, the Anglican Church, bank, stone houses, school ruins, the two-story Post Office, Catholic Church, billiard hall and the Vulcan Hotel. 

Guttered we could't stay longer than a night in this town, we had to get to Queenstown for the bus windscreen to be replaced after it suffered a nasty chip a month ago. It turns out getting a replacement windscreen is no easy feat but this is another story! We reckon this would be a top place to spend a summer holiday doing not a whole lot! That said, we will be back.