Dunedin

It turned out we only stayed a few hours in Oamaru, spending the night and gathering some information in the morning. We slept in the botanical garden's parking lot and took a little walk just after getting out of the van. The people we talked to at the center were very friendly and helpful, and I wish we could've had more time to visit this lovely little town, famous for its penguin colony on the coast. We drove out hoping to find a hostel where to work and stay a few days, about 40 km from Oamaru. But it was closed and we then decided it was time to go visit Dunedin.
We stopped two more times on the way, as there were boulders to look at the first place. We didn't get too close though as an obnoxious lady pissed Dana off trying to get 2$ to go down a stairway. On the second stop, we attempted to see penguins and seals in Shag point. I know, the name is weird but it is possible to see those polar animals on certain days. We got lucky and observed four or five wild seals resting on rocks or coming out of the water. The penguins never showed up as they usually appear later in the afternoon, when the sun goes down. A storm came very quickly from the ocean and we barely had time to jump in the van before the melting snow poured in.
We arrived in Dunedin just before 5:00 p.m. and went straight to the information center once again. A chinese girl was doing a survey for her MBA and her target was tourists travelling around New Zealand. We accepted to fill the 8(!) pages for her and talked a bit. As the office was closing, she asked us where we were going and spontaneously offered us to follow her at the University campus if we wanted to take a shower. After what we went through in Shangai just months previously with the tea ceremony scam, I was a bit sceptical about the offer but she kept on gently insisting and even offered a T.V. room as a place where we could sleep. Dana felt she was genuine and I got convinced to try, not knowing where to go anyway in that brand new city. It turned out she was really trying to help us and we stayed three nights on the Otago University campus!! It was so nice of her we had trouble understanding why at times. But it must be in her nature as Xiaoling even pushed it and gave us her username and password to access the internet from the University!!
We were really thankful and spent some nice time visiting Dunedin, even with the bad weather. We went to the arts museum, inside an old church and the most photogenic building of all New Zealand, the railway station. We skipped one main atraction over there, the Cadbury chocolate factory, as it cost 17$ to visit. We can buy a big 750g bar for 3$, so why bother...

photo section:

a church in Oamaru

our van in front of the city hall (between rain showers)

a beach with boulders we never got to see...

the few seals we got to see on the way to Dunedin

an old church in Dunedin
the big train station next to an old prison

the Dunedin train station