I can't believe it's February already. Time flies when you're having fun! I've now started the "Bottom Bus" sector of my South Island tour, so I'm now on a much smaller bus with only 10 others. It makes a nice change from being on a packed coach!

Our driver, Don, seems like a really nice guy. Unlike the young Kiwi Experience drivers, he must be about 70 years old and is very knowledgable about everything New Zealand. Much to my delight, the first stop of the day was Mrs Jones' fruit stall again, so I took the chance to restock with some different fruit this time... The cherries and Siro plums were especially delicious!

We then stopped at the Clyde Dam, which apparently holds 33 229 712 billions goldfish bowls of water (useless statistic I know...) It's an impressive structure nonetheless, especially as it was built to withstand up to 4/5 metres of movement during an earthquake! This was necessary because the dam is built on a huge fault line, like so many places in New Zealand it seems.

Don is actually employed by a different company called Headfirst, and they have negotiated some great deals for Bottom Bus passengers at every food stop! We got a bargain lunch at a nice cafe in the small village of Clyde before continuing on towards our destination for the day: Dunedin.

After various scenic photo and ice cream stops, we finally arrived in Dunedin at 5pm and were taken to see Baldwin Street - the steepest street in the world! (See photo.) It is pretty cool although I wouldn't fancy living on it. They apparently have annual races up and down it each year - now that I would love to do!

We're staying at On Top Backpackers, part of a poolhouse right in the city centre. Dunedin is a major university town - the University of Otago is based very near the centre and has a very highly regarded medical school in particular. There is definitely a younger feel about the place, although it is pretty quiet at the moment as the new academic year hasn't started yet.

I went for my run in Queenstown at 7am this morning so I had time to go for a leisurely walk around Dunedin's Botanic Gardens and explore the town centre. We all had a drink together in the Irish Pub later in the evening too. I'm really enjoying being in a smaller group of people as I've had the chance to get to know people better.

Some people did a tour of Speight's Brewery, although the main attraction was of course being able to drink lots of beer at the end so I gave that one a miss. They also have CADBURY'S World, which I would obviously have visited, except that New Zealand and Australia Cadbury's is rubbish! It doesn't taste the same at all. Apparently, certainly in Australia , they put some stuff in the chocolate to stop it melting... I can understand why, but this obviously ruins the whole joy of eating chocolate!