Oamaru is a town on the east coast of the south island 120 kms north of Dunedin. Surprisingly it isn’t built on the side of a volcano, hill or even a small slope, it is infact quite flat and open. The town itself has  a great feeling of space with a very wide road running through it parallel to the coast.

There is a historical part of town with buildings reminiscent of english buildings from the 19th century.

Old Bedford truck –

Oamaru Steampunk museum, didn’t go in here but there were some weird and wondeful creations outside –

Always good to have a coffee by the harbour and watch the world stand still –

Beyond the harbour there were two penguins colonies, a colony of little blue penguins lives in a disused quarry and a colony of yellow eyed penguins lives nearby on the coast. After a long walk to see the little blue penguins I realised that there was a visitor center building there and an admission to pay to see the little critters.

This is what they could have looked like –

Oamaru Verdict – nice town on the east coast, wide open spaces, nice buildings, cafes by the sea, great coast line, has penguins, whats not to like ?!

Dunedin is a town in the south east region of the south island and also the second largest city on the south island. Built on the side of extinct volcanos (again) it is obviously very hilly and you need to be fairly active to go on a walking tour around the town.

The town itself has a massive Scottish influence as European settlers came here in the early 1800’s and the Free Church of Scotland founded Dunedin in 1848. It is actually named after Edinbourgh as the Scottish Gealic for it is Dun Eideann. Many churches and other buildings are therefore reminiscent of similar european buildings of that time.

This is the main railway building, the first photo taken on a Scottish day, the second photo taken on a New Zealand day –

Churches galore !!

I seem to have taken more photos of the Speights brewery tour than I did the historical center of Dunedin !!

Speights brewery, Pride of the South !!

For a review of the Speights brewery and the beer its sells see the Beer page of New Zealand.

You can also go and tour the Cadburys factory but as Cadburys has now been sold to the Amercians and they are changing the ingredients of it making it disgusting, I refused to set foot in the place.

Dunedin Verdict – historical town full of European influence, most things available, good sightseeing, good nightlife, one of the better towns on the south island.