Student Bloggers

Currently Studying at: University of Otago, New Zealand

Homeschool: Wofford College

I live right beside the Dunedin Botanical Gardens. If I walk out of my front door, take a left, and keep walking for around ten minutes, I will end up at the grocery store– New World. I have made this trek several times, and each time only had the one destination in mind. Last Monday, I decided to walk around the gardens to explore further. It turns out that the part of the gardens I was walking through was less than half of the entire Botanical gardens! My friend Sally and I walked all around them that day, without a real purpose, and I finally got to experience the enormity of the entire garden.

Later that week, UniFlats hosted a dinner for the area I live in. We were told to bring Tupperware and take some food home; so you know I made that meal stretch into four. It was really cool to finally meet some of my neighbors and to get out with my flatmates. I had a night for myself and did a facemask while planning some trips throughout the semester. It is nice to slow down and say no every once in a while to be able to focus on yourself, even if just for a night.

On Friday, five of us took a bus to Bethune’s Gully, where we walked up to the start of the Mt. Cargill track. The track was super nice; it had a slight incline the entire way up, and only took about an hour and a half to the top. We took a lunch break where the trail split in two and continued up to the summit of Mt. Cargill. It was super cloudy and we could not see the view, but being that high up and in a cloud was pretty mystifying. We went back down to the split and then went down to the organ pipes. We had to leave our bags at the bottom of the rocks so that we could scramble a bit up the exposed hill. The view was stunning, and we were below the cloud line, so we were able to see out to Dunedin. We then tramped back down and found a playground to swing, see-saw, and just be kids again. We caught the bus and went back home. That night was one of my good friends’ birthdays, so we celebrated with a party at her flat.

I hopped onto a super last minute trip to the Catlins with three other girls from my program. We left on Saturday and got back Sunday night. I packed my bags and got in the car we rented, and then headed off towards Balclutha after picking up a rented tent and sleeping bags from Unipol. We first stopped at the information center to look around and to get a map of the Catlins, because we were unsure how our phones and GPS would hold up. We drove over to Kaka point and went for a walk on the beach and a bit of a swim. Afterward, we drove to Cannibal Bay and ate our dinner on the beach. We saw loads of sunbathing sea lions and various species of birds. Then we went to Roaring Bay, but we weren’t lucky enough to see any of the yellow-eyed penguins that frequent the beach there. We continued on up to Nugget Point for sunset, and it was absolutely gorgeous! The lighthouse at Nugget Point warns of the “nuggets” in the water, or huge rocks protruding past the cliffs. At sunset, the light makes these nuggets golden, and the view was just breathtaking. We headed off to the Purakaunui Bay camping ground for the night. We set up the tent and fell fast asleep.

We woke up around 7:30 to the stunning sunrise over the beach. We packed up our campsite and drove over to Purakaunui Falls, walked about ten minutes into the woods, and found a huge waterfall. Then we headed toward Papatowai and went on a short hike through the forest to the beach. The rocks on the beach were magnificent, and the tide was coming in so the waves were huge. It was getting to lunch time so we drove a short way over to this quirky but cute little place called the Lost Gypsy Curios and Coffee for lunch. I had the pad thai, and it was awesome! There was a separate coffee place near the food, as well as an old bus filled with quirky gadgets. It was interesting, to say the least, but definitely a cool little stop. We drove a little way right back over the bridge and walked along the beach there. Then we did about an hour long walk through the forest to the beach on the other side. We hopped back in the car and headed towards the Cathedral Caves, first stopping at the Florence Hill Lookout, which was magnificent. It was a view of all of the beaches we had just been on, but from a great distance higher. The Cathedral Caves only open two hours before low tide and close one hour after, so we had to be there between 4:15 and 7:15, or we would not get to see the cave. We arrived a tad bit early, so we continued down the street for about a mile and came to the Whistling Frog Café and bar. It was super cute and a very nice place to just hang out for a little while. We went back to the Cathedral Caves and paid our $5 admission fee since the caves are located on Maori grounds. The walk down to the beach was about twenty minutes, and then along the beach for another ten or so. But the caves were incredible! They were massive and the entrance looped around into the one beside it. I had never imagined that caves could be this big, and the water was relatively close to the entrance, so it makes sense that they would only be accessible for a few hours a day.

We had hit every spot that we wanted to, and much more. The trip was perfect! We could not have asked for better weather, timing, or people to share the experience with. For being such a last minute trip, it turned out to be one of the best weekends thus far! We had a rough outline of what the weekend would look like, a car, and a road map. It turns out that is about all you really need! We got back to campus in plenty of time to return our hired gear to Unipol and to drop off the rented car. All in all, the weekend cost me $83 NZD, an absolute steal! I tell you this to say that budgeting is easy, especially in a country where it is legal to camp in a lot of places. Also, packing most of your own food is way cheaper than trying to eat out for every meal. Renting a car is definitely the way to go if a bus cannot take you there. And don’t worry if every single detail of your trip is not ironed out; wandering around does not mean that you’re lost, it means you are adventurous. And I sure as heck recommend being as adventurous as possible.

Kia Ora,
Liesel