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Queenstown-Dunedin
We drove 4 hours to Dunedin today, pausing for lunch in Roxburgh. I have little to say about the journey as my hindbrain was still a bit stuck getting over the majesty that was Milford Sound yesterday. We started off very much in high country; the road became gradually less mountainous and the clouds lower, and it rained on and off. Further evidence of the crazy outdoor pursuits that Kiwis love was provided by our passing four penny-farthings on the hilly roads after our lunch stop.
We made good time, getting to our motel before 3pm then went off into town for a walkabout. Dunedin has many familiar-to-me street names in an unfamiliar setting, having been settled mostly by Scots. However while Edinburgh was built on seven hills, what it doesn't have is Signal Hill - home to some insanely steep streets, including Baldwin Street, the world's steepest. No, really. The steep bit rises 47 metres in 161 laterally - an average gradient of 1 in 3.41, or 29.3%, and the steepest bit is 35%. The upper section is surfaced in concrete (asphalt would flow downhill!) and has stairs in lieu of a pavement on one side. Yet there are houses all the way up (nobody parks on-street!) and having the Guinness certificate makes it a minor tourist destination in its own right. Being too chicken to drive it (both ways; it's a no-through-road), we walked to the top and admired the view. While we were there a couple of tourists drove it; judging by their faces on the way down, neither we nor the hire car would have enjoyed it either...!
In Queenstown we were staying at the Shotover Lodge in Arthurs Point. The experience was a little... mixed.
The place is clearly undergoing some sort of renovation; at first we noticed construction tape around the grounds, the wifi was free because it was known to be flaky, and some of the internal painting was missing its topcoat. The property is a motel in as much as the rooms are provided with cooking facilities, but there is also an enormous common room and what was described to us as a communal kitchen... It rather looks like the sort of kitchen that would cater for the entire building (100+ people?) with ease. It's also a complete rabbit warren. Three storeys, no lift, twisty passages, and very little internal signage.
And then there was the room itself. All very swish on first impressions; the kitchen and bathroom fittings all seemed very new, but none of the kitchen cupboard handles were tight and the shower door didn't close well: signs of a shoddy job? The TV channel arrangement was random (and they were in the wrong aspect ratio), and as "promised" the wifi was extremely erratic. The room layout was disappointingly annoying: rather than being separate rooms or even around a corner from each other, the bed and kitchenette (with noisy fridge!) were directly adjacent. I'm starting to get an appreciation for what makes a well-thought-out motel room design and what doesn't... There was also a disappointing lack of soundproofing as we were disturbed by a party along the corridor one night, despite the place seeming half empty. All in all a very odd setup, seems as though the building is being turned into something it didn't used to be, isn't quite there yet and is being done so on a tight budget. Obviously the cheap price we got ($80/night, advertised to passing trade) was because it isn't finished yet...
We drove 4 hours to Dunedin today, pausing for lunch in Roxburgh. I have little to say about the journey as my hindbrain was still a bit stuck getting over the majesty that was Milford Sound yesterday. We started off very much in high country; the road became gradually less mountainous and the clouds lower, and it rained on and off. Further evidence of the crazy outdoor pursuits that Kiwis love was provided by our passing four penny-farthings on the hilly roads after our lunch stop.
We made good time, getting to our motel before 3pm then went off into town for a walkabout. Dunedin has many familiar-to-me street names in an unfamiliar setting, having been settled mostly by Scots. However while Edinburgh was built on seven hills, what it doesn't have is Signal Hill - home to some insanely steep streets, including Baldwin Street, the world's steepest. No, really. The steep bit rises 47 metres in 161 laterally - an average gradient of 1 in 3.41, or 29.3%, and the steepest bit is 35%. The upper section is surfaced in concrete (asphalt would flow downhill!) and has stairs in lieu of a pavement on one side. Yet there are houses all the way up (nobody parks on-street!) and having the Guinness certificate makes it a minor tourist destination in its own right. Being too chicken to drive it (both ways; it's a no-through-road), we walked to the top and admired the view. While we were there a couple of tourists drove it; judging by their faces on the way down, neither we nor the hire car would have enjoyed it either...!
In Queenstown we were staying at the Shotover Lodge in Arthurs Point. The experience was a little... mixed.
The place is clearly undergoing some sort of renovation; at first we noticed construction tape around the grounds, the wifi was free because it was known to be flaky, and some of the internal painting was missing its topcoat. The property is a motel in as much as the rooms are provided with cooking facilities, but there is also an enormous common room and what was described to us as a communal kitchen... It rather looks like the sort of kitchen that would cater for the entire building (100+ people?) with ease. It's also a complete rabbit warren. Three storeys, no lift, twisty passages, and very little internal signage.
And then there was the room itself. All very swish on first impressions; the kitchen and bathroom fittings all seemed very new, but none of the kitchen cupboard handles were tight and the shower door didn't close well: signs of a shoddy job? The TV channel arrangement was random (and they were in the wrong aspect ratio), and as "promised" the wifi was extremely erratic. The room layout was disappointingly annoying: rather than being separate rooms or even around a corner from each other, the bed and kitchenette (with noisy fridge!) were directly adjacent. I'm starting to get an appreciation for what makes a well-thought-out motel room design and what doesn't... There was also a disappointing lack of soundproofing as we were disturbed by a party along the corridor one night, despite the place seeming half empty. All in all a very odd setup, seems as though the building is being turned into something it didn't used to be, isn't quite there yet and is being done so on a tight budget. Obviously the cheap price we got ($80/night, advertised to passing trade) was because it isn't finished yet...
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