Beer and Chocolate in Dunedin – Stephen's Travels

We woke up to a chilly morning in Dunedin. It was a little difficult to sleep in the van with temperatures outside approaching freezing so we got a late start on the day. We walked from the campa park to downtown and went on a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory.

There was four of us on the tour and a very friendly guide named Wyeth (he’s on the left in the pic above). We got a tour of how they make their chocolate and got to try a ton of it along the way.

We stocked up on chocolate for our road trips and gifts for people back home. Next, we headed over to Speights Brewery which has been making beer in New Zealand since 1876.

We really liked the tour. Our guide (in both pics above) is actually the great-grandson of one of the founders of the brewery. At the end of the tour, they let you hang out in the taproom and drinks as much beer as you want.

Shannon at the Speights Brewery Tour in Dunedin, New Zealand — Shannon going to town on the taps

Stephen at the Speights Brewery Tour in Dunedin, New Zealand — Enjoying a beer with my stubbie holder (coozie) glove

After the brewery, we ate some Indian food for dinner and walked back to the campa park. Since our sleep was not very good the night before, we decided to upgrade to a little cabin with a heater instead of sleeping in the van.

Jucy Campa Van in front of our cabin in Dunedin, New Zealand — There’s our little cabin next to the van – it wasn’t big but more importantly, it was warm!

We slept great in the warm cabin and woke up the next day ready to drive up the coast. Before this, we drove over to Otago peninsula, which is a pretty drive with all kinds of wildlife around. At the tip is an albatross research center as well.

In the picture above, you can see the kelp (seaweed) whipping around in the surf – this is an ideal habitat for seals and there were a bunch lounging around.

And of course, there were tons of sheep and sweeping views.

After this scenic drive, we settled in for our longest driving day (about 6 hours). While I drove, Shannon read through the travel guides to figure out where we should stop for the night.

It was around 10 p.m. when we pulled into Kaikoura and most of the lodging had closed for the night. Finally, the owner of Albatross Backpacker Inn saw us wandering around and offered us a spot to park our van since his hostel was booked up for the night. We got some fish and chips and enjoyed a bottle of wine in the hostel’s commons area before crashing for the night.