Big Trip Day 11 (Auckland to Queenstown to Dunedin)

We had an 8:30 Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Queenstown (1 hour and 20 minutes in the air).  Security, customs and such were rather quick and car rental pick up in the parking lot was rather painless.  We went with Ace Rentals again at NZ $842 for eight days of a Toyota mini-van.

Leaving Auckland, we stopped briefly at charming Arrowtown (an old gold mining town) and continued our drive on to Dunedin (typically 3-1/2 to 4 hours).  The drive was gorgeous and we stopped many times to take pictures and buy cherries at roadside stands.  Somewhere along the way, we picked up KFC for lunch and made it into Dunedin in the late afternoon.  We booked two rooms at the Best Western (who were able to give us connecting ones).  We had a very good dinner at Robbie's Restaurant for NZ $140.

We wandered to Balwin Street which has been named the steepest street in the world by the Guinness World Records.  We walked it and watched a couple cars drive it--we opted not to drive.  We also skipped around collecting photographs of some wonderful, popular, famous architecture in the city.