The Capital Of Quirky
Posted by Ruth Atherley on May 25, 2010 at 7:05 pm
I spent some time with the Dunedin Tourism team yesterday, and let me set the stage by explaining that their booth at TRENZ has a bar with a beer tap!! I heard lots of very cool quirky things about Dunedin beyond Naked Rugby. Here are just a few:
Knitting in a bar
You can join a knitting circle at AL BAR (formerly known as CENTRAL BAR before the first five letters fell off the sign!). Dunedin locals, including university students, turn up to knit their wears each Monday evening. AL BAR, like the city itself, has a very Scottish vibe serving haggis and a wide selection of whiskey. The bar also has live traditional Gaelic music.
Perfect Woman
According to Dunedin’s Speight’s beer, “It’s a hard road finding the perfect woman.” Each year Kiwi women battle it out for the Perfect Woman title through a series of competitions including sheep sheering and beer drinking.
Learn how to sheer sheep at Natures Wonders – a working farm and conservation property on the nearby Otago Peninsula.
Bring your own lunch to a coffee shop
The Fix Coffee on Frederick Street focuses on what they do best – coffee. Bring your own lunch and chill out in the courtyard with an eclectic mix of Dunedin locals. Fix was Dunedin’s first hole in the wall coffee outlet ten years ago. Since then, the owners have been roasting coffee with the aim to produce the finest and freshest available.
Even better than being in the dog house
Budget conscious travellers can get their beauty sleep inside the stables of New Zealand’s only castle, Larnach Castle. The 135-year-old stables are rated the highest in the category of historic New Zealand buildings. (And you can sleep in the stables – no kidding!) Only overnight guests can dine inside the castle, which is steeped in history, scandal, and of course there are rumours of ghosts! Larnach Castle also has a four-star lodge and runs daily tours of the castle and gardens.
There’s a beer tap in that wall!
In central Dunedin, the Speight’s brewery lies on top of a natural mineral water stream. Aside from using the water to brew this popular beer, it is made available to passers by. A street-side tap on the wall outside the brewery tours entrance gives access to the water.
Get this: Before 1950, the brewery staff had a daily allowance of 12 litres of beer!
