Dunedin is a Scottish city that happened to be built at the bottom of the world. Settlers of the Free Church of Scotland arrived in 1848 and named it after the old Gaelic name for Edinburgh, Dùn Èideann; they planted churches, a university and a great many stone buildings on the steep green hills around Otago Harbour. The gold rush of the 1860s brought money and made it for a time the richest town in the colony, which explains the Victorian railway station and the grand Octagon at the centre.
The streets are the first thing a rider notices. Dunedin climbs. Baldwin Street, in the northern suburbs, once claimed the title of the world's steepest residential street, and while that crown has since passed to a rival in Wales, it is still alarming to stand at the bottom and look up. On a motorcycle, ordinary hills give you a taste of it, with gradients that make you glad of a good clutch. Cars park on the slopes, one-way systems can confuse, and the weather is changeable: bright sun, wind and a cold shower can arrive within an hour, a local habit known as four seasons in one day.
The best ride out is along the Otago Peninsula, where a narrow road follows the harbour edge past Portobello, twelve kilometres from the city centre, and climbs onto the ridge for views of both the harbour and the open Pacific. The road has plenty of bends and few places to overtake, so go gently and enjoy the water. At the end of the peninsula, northern royal albatross nest at Taiaroa Head, a rare mainland colony, and you can see yellow-eyed penguins and fur seals on certain beaches if you keep your distance.
Dunedin is a large city with fuel on every main road, supermarkets, and a range of cafés, with student coffee bars around the university and the old brick warehouse district near the harbour. Traffic here keeps left, and speed limits are strictly applied, so relax and enjoy the Scottish gloom.
From here the Southern Scenic Route heads south through the Catlins, so top up before you go, because pumps become scarce once the coast road takes over.