A short post on some of our favourite places (so far!) in and around Dunedin.

Scenic walks

Nicols Falls – a small but pretty waterfall at the end of a short-ish walk (about 20-30 minutes). There’s a small detour you can do early on to a rock formation which is host to glow worms!

Flagstaff Hill Track – this is about an hour walk, heading up a hill for a wonderful view of Dunedin and the Harbour. You can go straight up and back from the car park through the manuka scrub, or go over the top of Flagstaff and return via a firebreak (it’s a bit quieter on this way with fewer people).

Coffee Roasters

Vanguard – a large cafe and coffee roaster in the ‘warehouse district’ (near my work!), they have a great kitchen and roast the best filter beans in town. They have lots of really tasty varieties of beans, and also really good treats! They also do brunches and lunches.

Allpress – a smaller cafe on the other side of town, closer to the university (and Tom’s work!), these guys specialise more in espresso beans. (They also do good food and treats.) Allpress is a larger organisation, having grown from a small Kiwi team originally to a global supplier with roasteries in NZ, Australia, Japan and the UK!

Restaurants

Being a smaller city, there tend to be fewer choices available, but there is still a lot of variety, if that makes sense! By that, I mean – there is a pretty wide variety of cuisines available to choose from (Thai, Malaysian, etc), but within that, there are a handful of options.

KL Aroma – this place takes some getting used to, but the Malaysian food is worth it! Down a set of nondescript stairs in the shopping part of George St, it’s easy to walk past this place or to dismiss it based on the inherited ‘tea and sandwich place’ aesthetic.

No. 7 Balmac – up on Maori Hill, this café does great coffee (allpress!) and has a really lovely menu which changes regularly. They use their own garden for herbs and salads. The staff are wonderful and they are open later in the evening as a bar as well!

Bars/Pubs

Emersons Brewery – a local microbrewery done good! These guys churn out good beer without too many frills. They will fill up your bottles from taps at the brewery itself (great for parties!) and the brewery has a decent restaurant as well.

Albar – a sweet little pub nestled on Stuart St near the central Octagon, this place is dark and cosy with lots of taps and even hand pumps. They change up the beers on tap regularly, and also have a great range of bottled beer to try.