WELCOME TO DUNEDIN

All our traveling needs in NZ were provided by buses and shuttle buses, courtesy of two great companies, Atomic Shuttles and InterCity Coachlines. This saved us the trouble of hiring (Kiwi for "renting") and driving our own car, but added the enormous hassle of planning our activities around the availability of the transport, and having to pre-book and pre-pay for every single segment. As we were there in the less touristy winter, there were even fewer bus routes to choose from, but that also meant we often had the entire buses to ourselves.

From this experience, I would NOT recommend taking ONLY buses if you are going to be doing A LOT of traveling. We practically went around the entire South Island, all by bus, and in the end it was somewhat of a burden and quite tiring. Plus, I get nauseated easily on buses, which I totally forgot about as I was making reservations. Still, always having the option of taking a bus is nice, and one of the most absolutely excellent features of the modern-day New Zealand is its deep, efficient tourism infrastructure. Anybody, anywhere, anytime can get info and make bookings for any town, any location, any tour company, any backpackers (Kiwi for "hostel"), any snowbank and mountaintop and rain forest in the entire country. Tourists can't have it any easier in New Zealand.

I cannot leave out mentioning that all of our bus drivers were exceptional -- every single one of them was sensitive, thoughtful, polite, and well-informed, some even acting as informal tour guides, proudly pointing out noteworthy aspects of their beautiful country as we passed them on the highway. They are the perfect ambassadors to New Zealand.

The ride from Christchurch to Dunedin was extremely long and pretty much took the entire day. After many hours of brain-jiggling down the east coast, we arrived at the Scottish town of Dunedin. Our bus drop was the gorgeous Dunedin Railway Station.

131 Dunedin Railway Station	132 its well-kept gardens	133 what are these?
back | MAIN | next