Travelled from Wanaka to Dunedin, arriving mid afternoon. Booked into Mecure Hotel at 310 Princes Street, Dunedin. Unloaded car and had to carry bags to room which was on second floor, was an elevator, however they have mid floors that require you to lift your bags up & down a flight of stairs, depending whether you are checking in or checking out.
I was a little surprised that there was not a porter or concierge to assist considering the rating of the hotel. Apart from this, the staff were very friendly and helpful - they offer a valet car parking service for $10 per night and considering the unusual locals that walked past the Hotel around midnight, I considered it money well spent! I doubt very much that the GPS Nav Device would of still been there in the morning had we parked directly out the front.
The hotel itself was loveley, beautifully restored in all areas. The bar area and restaurant were also appealing, yet may appear modern in design compared to the rest of the hotel's refurbishments. The rooms are also very modern in design. Our laptop worked well on the internet without any problems, however the shower was a unique experience where temperance was the order of the day. I could not work out whether the shower was plaing up, or you just needed a degree with honours to achieve the right balance.
We chose not to eat or drink at the hotel, but did order a cheese platter and bread dipping platter through room service later in the night. The cheese platter and bread dipping platter were reasonably priced considering the hotel, however I had difficulty in justifying the cost of it, compared to the proportions. The serving is on the smallish side and the dips for the bread were a little bland.
The hotel room itself was well set out & designed with plenty of room - we were very much impressed initially. Once in the room, it did not take long for all 4 of us to start overheating as there were no ventilation points or airconditioning to minimise this. We were forced to open the fire escape window to have any fresh or cooling air which left you susceptical to loud road noise. I am sure two thirds of the street racing desciples make Dunedin their home.
We liked Dunedin for so many reasons, yet there were nearly as many reasons to consider that the place may of been over-run by nomads, that is, residents that were missing more then 2 teeth in their smile who do not know whether they are Scottish or Kiwi. I Thought that I was well travelled and that tattoos were symbolic of personal accomplishments or recognition of something, yet it appears to be a birth mark here.
We chose to dine out at a local cantonesse restaurant down the road towards the city on the same street as I had been advised by previous travellers that Dunedin was good for chinese food. The food was average, yet priced probably 15% above the top notch chinese restaurants in AUS. The servings were average in size, heading to below average and the ambience was in the negative factor.
Shopping in Dunedin is great!!!!!!!!!! We all found sensational buys, whether it was jewellery, toys or any other thing we wanted. The service was friendly and the prices were great. Our happiness in this area was somewhat dampened by locals just barging their way past the kids, nearly knocking them over and a local purposely kicking our son's yo-yo from the footpath under a parked car.
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