Sunday 20th July
I had another early start and left the hostel at 07.45 and got back on the Magic Bus again, three weeks after I had been on it last on the journey between Lake Taupo and Wellington. After stopping off at the various hostels around town to pick up everyone else, we left for our destination of Dunedin.
It was a pretty straight run through to Dunedin, with no sightseeing stops scheduled for the day. I was quite happy with this as I wasn't in the mood for stopping for five minutes just to take photos of random stuff, as is usually the case on many of these Magic Bus excursions. We arrived into Dunedin at 12.30 and I checked into the 'Chalet Backpackers' on Castle Street. It was housed in a renovated hospital, so it had a bit of character. However, it was fairly quiet, with only a handful of people staying there that night.
I took a walk into town just to check it out. It's not a very big place, but large enough for New Zealand standards. I did some emailing, went to get some groceries in the supermarket and went back to the hostel to make dinner. I got chatting to an English couple called Therese & Pete, and later in the evening I spoke to Dave & Nuala on the phone (and got a begrudging 'Happy Birthday' sung to me by Orla who wasn't that keen on talking to me until Dave promised her a Milky Way bar in return for a song!).
