[tigerlily]

My step father just found an opportunity in Dunedin. I'm trying to find out all I can for him. I don't think I've seen anything bad on the forum about it. Can you please tell me the high points and low points of living "way down south"?

[Miffy]

you want to know about dunedin? *cracks fingers*

Its hilly very hiily and steep. It has the steepest road in the world and alot of contenders!
Its a fairly small city, infact I would call it a large town by UK standards. this makes it very friendly and the locals are very proud being southern men.
There is not a huge ex-pat community (UK or other) although at the Uni there is a vast mix of different cultures and backgrounds.

For outdoors stuff, its great for mountain biking and road biking. It was a bay which people windsurf, kite surf and kayak in. Also sail and row.
On the other side of town there is st clair beach which has excellent surf, which I am taking lessons in. There are all the other team sports and clubs that you wouls want.
There are loads of deserted beaches all around the city, just a short distance away, am looking forward to finding one and relaxing on a warm sunny summer afternoon....

Shopping is a bit limited. You can get what you want / need (all the main supermarkets are here so no problem there) but for colthes there is not that much choice of shops or stock.

Its alot colder down here in the south (we have wild pegeuins - seriously!) in the winter (still no central heating) but it is a dryer cold. you just need to make sure your house is not in a shady spot with no sunshine as it will stay cold and damp all winter. It is windy here, maybe not as much as welly but when it gets going its super cold. However when the sun comes out the temp may only be 18 or 20 but feels so much warmer.
Central Otago is only an hour or so drive away and they have the hotest temperatures of all of NZ in summer 30++ (but the lowest in winter).

The weather does change and it can go from 20 degres to 10 in an afternoon and a summers days back to almost winter over night.

There is not quite a million people on the south island so you can imagine its alot quiter and calmer down here, which is just how we like it.

If you want anythin specific or detailed infomation, just ask, and i'll try and help.

[tigerlily]

Miffy thank you so much! All very good information and I'm sure he/ I will have more questions if he decides to make the move. One question I'm wondering about is the snow? Is it a common thing in winter? I've seen that the penisula is a beautiful area, is the commute bad from there?

Sorry! I've just realised that I posted this on the wrong part of the board, can the mods please move this over?

[Miffy]

Snow - yes we do get snow during the winter. Mainly at the top of the hills surrounding dunedin (sumits ranges from 300 - 600 m). The main road out from Dunedin to Palmerston over one of the higher ranges is often closed
Snow settling down town, is rare, maybe a once a year occiasion. We do get hard frosts but that clears as soon as the sun comes up. In fact a hard frost is a good thing because it means it will be a clear and sunny day by mid morning / lunchtime.

As for the pneisula either Port Chalmers or Portebello on the other side are both easy commutes, less than 20 mins drive out (all flat around the bay, so no probs with the snow you *could& cycle it to work). But they are very small. Port Chalmers the slightly bigger one, has one supermarket, a couple of cafes / pubs but no banks or ATM. Portebello has a pub and a diary (small local store). Very livable but considered out of town by the locals and a long commute :rolleyes: Its where we would consider buying when we get to that stage.

PS in my post when I mentioned southern man, I don't mean like red neck sourthern US states sourthern more like frontier cowboy (but not texas) style :)

[DrPhred]

I got a free brochure and CD from the city of Dunedin that was very helpful.
http://www.cityofdunedin.com/city/?page=feat_iamdunedin2
for a free sign-up.

[tigerlily]

Thanks all. Sounds like a really nice place to live. Any complaints?