New Zealand is a very hilly place. Dunedin is the MOST hilly place we have been yet in the country. In fact it’s the home of the steepest street in the world – Baldwin Street. And the motorway in to town – the main artery for cars trucks etc. in or out, is built on a crazy 11% grade. Have these people never heard of tunnels? Throw me a bone here. Anyway, it almost makes you think that the founders of this place weren’t that concerned with the rest of New Zealand, and for todays residents that may still be true.
Dunedin is called the “Edinburgh of the South”, which I guess makes sense as Dunedin (pronounced as if you were saying “Ma, I’m done eatin'” really fast) is the original Gaelic name of Edinburgh – before the English made em change it ya see. And while I’ve never been to Edinburgh, this place does remind me of a city in the U.S. with stupid steep hills, built around a harbor, home to a chocolate factory, with lots of art-school students: San Francisco.
Tell me there’s not a resemblance! The hills, the harbor, Dunedin is home to the New Zealand franchise of the Cadbury Empire and the largest university in New Zealand. Now just try to remember what SF was like before the dot coms arrived, shrink it down by a factor of 5, and make it Scottish – ladies and gents I give you Dunedin!