I’ve decided that Dunedin is quite okay. It’s not as cold as I though it would be, although the sun not going down till 10pm is a bit disconcerting. The backpackers kinda sucks but it’s cheap. (There’s a Dutch guy sleeping in the bunk above me - a huge Marine who loves to get out his knife whenever it’s remotely justifiable. Last night he decided to go to bed with a walkman and two cheese sandwiches, so I spent an hour listening to slurping mouth noise and tinny heavy metal music, occasionally drifting off to sleep but being woken up by the slapping of drum solos on his chest. Tonight I think I will stay up late.) All the touristy stuff like the Botanic Gardens and the art gallery are okay if you have time to kill.

I think if I spent more than a couple of weeks here I’d end up with a New Zealand accent - I’ve already noticed myself doing those cruel and unusual things to vowels that they do without even meaning to. I must have a very malleable sense of identity. Sometimes it’s just easier, like when I went to look for a tent yesterday:

Me (as I walk into the camping store): Do you have any tents?
Sqeaky-voiced teen: Sorry? What’s thet?
Me: Do you have any tints?
Sqeaky-voiced teen: Oh nup.

I’ve decided also that I rather like conferences. Down here they aren’t short of snacks either, with stacks of cheese-based pastry items to keep you happy between papers. I’ve been doing the networking thing and meeting everybody, though I don’t remember half the peoples’ names because they all lost their name tags on the first day - everyone is friendly and that’s the important thing. There are a few tools, but they’re mostly the old geezers who love to go on and on about what they did in Scotland or something like that you just don’t want to hear. At dinner yesterday there was a guy who looked just like Austin Powers, but I didn’t bring it up with him as to why (he might not have been aware). My presentation, conveniently out of the way on the first day, went exactly according to plan. I enjoy reading papers now, and can usually get away with fingernails intact and without mumbling too many words in the delivery. Someday, I do believe, I will be quite good at it.

Now I will go to the end of town and look for the World’s Steepest Street. Can I be arsed to walk up it? We’ll have to wait and see. I’ll post some photos when I can get to a decent internet café.