Welcome to Dunedin! Below is information that you may need during the semester including details on what to do when you are sick, how to get around and other important information while abroad.
IMPORTANT: Please ensure that you keep the TEAN contact info on you at all times in case of emergency.
ANZ, BNZ, Westpac, ASB and Kiwibank are the major banks in New Zealand. We advise talking to your U.S. bank and checking whether they have any relationship with any of the NZ banks mentioned above. A few past students have advised that Westpac is compatible with their bank back home and so they didn’t get charged the usual fees associated with international banking and withdrawals. You could also look at using a travel card or opening a New Zealand bank account. The universities tend to have a local bank on campus, so it’s easy to meet with a branch assistant and open an account there.
For most health services you are covered by the Student Safe insurance policy. When accessing health services outside of the university campus, you will need to pay upfront for the cost of an appointment and fill out a claim to get your money back later. Make sure you keep all receipts for the insurance claim process. Check with a service team member on where to get these forms and familiarize yourself with what your Student Safe insurance covers.
University of Otago Health Centre
Corner of Albany St and Walsh St, just south of the Otago Museum
Monday to Friday from 8:30am – 5pm
Phone: (03) 479 8212 or free phone 0800 479 821
Email: student-health@otago.ac.nz
University of Otago Counselling Service
Phone: (03) 479 8212 or free phone 0800 479 821
Let the staff know your enquiry is about counselling
Dunedin Urgent Doctors
18 Filleul St
Phone: (03) 479 2900
This service is available from 8am – 10pm, 7 days a week. Higher consultation charges apply.
Dunedin Hopsital
201 Great King Street
Open 24/7. Call ‘111’ for an ambulance or make your way to the hospital emergency department for treatment. Then please contact TEAN staff when possible.
New Zealand pharmacies (often called chemists) stock vitamins, make up and over-the-counter prescription medicines. New Zealand tends to have less variety in pharmaceutical brands than the U.S., so it’s worth giving them a call first if there’s something in particular you’re looking for. For example, Benadryl does not refer to allergy medicine in New Zealand. If you have any questions, the pharmacy staff are very helpful and can walk you through the options on offer.
Unichem Pharmacy
Unichem Pharmacies are located adjacent to both of the New World grocery stores in Dunedin and on the corner of George and Frederick Streets. They are open 8am – 6pm weekdays, 9am – 6pm Saturdays.
Albany Street Pharmacy
This pharmacy is a block away from the Otago Student Health Offices. It’s open 8:30am – 5:30pm weekdays, and 10am – 1pm on Saturdays.
Antidote North
This store is located on St David Street, just one block from the Otago university campus. It’s open 9am – 5:30pm, weekdays only.
If you’re not certain if you need professional medical attention, then use the free national advice service Heatlhline. It’s free to call and the trained nurses will advise you on what treatment is in your best interest. You can call Healthline on 0800 611 116, 24/7.
Go Bus is the main city bus operator in Dunedin. These are the buses you use a transport card called ‘GoCard’ with. The card costs $5 and after that you prepay as up go. GoCards also work on buses at Queenstown. You can add credit to your card at the front of the bus, just let the driver know how much you want to add. You get a 25% discount when you show your Otago Student ID as you enter the bus and let the driver know where you are planning to get off. The driver can tell you how many zones you will be traveling as the fare gets more expensive with additional zones, but generally the rates are very reasonable and you can go 3 zones from campus (George Street) to the beach (St Clair) for $2.50 one way with the student discount. Check the timetables for buses here.
OUSA has a deal with Airport Shuttles Dunedin to offer discounted Dunedin Airport shuttle trips for $15. You’ll likely need to book 24 hours in advance to ensure a pick-up.
NakedBus and Intercity are the main public transport companies that travel around the country. For touring bus options, check out Stray Travel and Kiwi Experience. These companies offer a ‘get on, get off’ service that extensively travels both islands and are a great way to meet other young travellers.
Air New Zealand is the national airline and has a good reputation for customer service and quality. For this reason it’s the more expensive airline option.
For last minute Air NZ deals, GRAB-A-SEAT is your cheapest resource when it comes to booking flights online. Sign up for the e-mail notifications as great deals get posted everyday and they often sell out fast! When booking online, tickets are sold as one-way, so this gives you plenty of flexibility to choose fares with the cheapest price and fit your schedule.
If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, check out Jetstar. Be aware that Jetstar is a little less reliable when it comes to going through with flights, and they are known for last minute cancellations. If you’re on a budget, and your plans are flexible, they are still a good choice however.
If you plan on traveling north, Blueridge and the Interislander are the only ferry operators that cross the Cook Strait between Picton (South Island) and Wellington (North Island).
The crossing takes approx 3 hours and both ferries leave from the docks near the TSB Arena. Expect to pay around $50 for a passenger ticket. Student deals pop up from time to time so subscribe to the company newsletters for special offers – Blueridge and Interislander
An iSite, or Information Centre, is a great resource for travellers and are found in pretty much every town/city in NZ. Staff can help with locating and booking activities in the local area. They have dedicated staff on site to help you organize your activities and are an excellent opportunity to gain local insight in an unfamiliar place.
Instead of carrying around your passport as legal identification in NZ, we suggest you apply for an 18+ Kiwi Access Card. The university will also suggest this during their orientation and will have forms available for distribution. Your U.S. driver’s licence is not accepted in NZ as a legal ID. The 18+ card application forms can be downloaded from here and we encourage you to do this early, as the processing time is about two weeks.
Before applying you’ll need to prepare the following:
New World
Generally New World is more expensive than other stores but offers greater variety and has better quality stock. A lot of Otago students walk up through the lower Dunedin Botanical Garden to the store in Northeast Valley where Great King Street turns into North Road. This store is about a 10- to 15-minute walk from campus and open 7:30am – 9pm. If you’re after more of a selection, there’s another bigger New World store one block north of the Countdown.
Countdown
Similar to New World but with the bonus of online shopping and door-to-door deliver. Save this option for bigger shops or split the extra charge with your flatmates! Countdown is near the Octagon centre of town between Cumberland and Great King Streets. It’s open 7am – 10pm and located at 86 Hillside Road.
Pak ‘n Save
Pak ‘n Save no frills and the cheapest of the supermarkets. It’s ideal for those larger shopping trips but located in South Dunedin so you’ll have to catch a ride with the your mates or hop on a bus heading towards St Clair. Buses leave from along George Street every 15 minutes during weekdays.
Veggie Boys
This chain is more like a fruits and veg stand and often has great deals on seasonal bags of produce. There isn’t a huge selection but you’ll find most of the basics like bread, eggs, pasta, and they have a weirdly good selection of candy. The closest store is located on Albany Street, one block from OUSA, and open 8am – 6pm.
Uni Mart
This is one of the bigger Asian grocery stores and stocks a whole wall of instant noodles in languages you probably don’t understand. Also expect to find Chinese candies, fresh tofu and noodles, enormous bags of rice, a dozen different types of frozen dumplings, and various other odds and ends. Uni Mart is located on Great King Street across from New World City Centre and open 10am – 7pm.
Farmer’s markets are the cheapest and freshest way to stock up on vegetables. Better yet, as you’re supporting local farming initiatives, you are putting money back in the community and reducing your carbon footprint by cutting down on food miles.
Dunedin’s Farmer’s Market
Every Saturday from 7am to 12pm at the Dunedin Train Station Platform along Anzac and Hanover Street. There are ridiculously good regular vendors here that come from all over Otago to sell their fresh products including veggies, fruits, meats, and cheeses. The food vendors are so amazing that you’ll need to plan strategically so that you can hit up all of the major players before the end of your semester. Top picks – French Crepes and Gallettes, Bacon Buttie Man, Tart Tin Bakery, Beam Me Up Bagels and Vegan Food Cart.
When you need homewares, bedding and other miscellaneous items, head to the below stores. All three are chains so you’re likely to see them scattered across the country.
The Warehouse
The Warehouse is New Zealand’s equivalent to Target or Walmart but has less variety. The closest is at 39 Maclaggan Street, across the street from Speight’s Brewery. Tune in for good seasonal deals. It’s open 8am – 9pm.
Briscoes
Briscoes is similar to The Warehouse but caters more extensively to homeware. It’s slightly better quality and therefore a little more expensive. They almost always have a 60% sale off everything once a month month except, of course, during Orientation Week (so hold out until afterwards). The closest store is located at 175 Crawford Street and open 9am – 5:30pm.
Kmart
You may be familiar with this one! In New Zealand Kmart has a better range of items than The Warehouse and is just as cheap if not cheaper. Many students have found themselves on what can only be described as a ‘Kmart binge’ as it’s easy to buy far more than you really need every time you go there. Dunedin’s Kmart is located on the top level of the Wall Street Mall along George Street. It’s open from 8am – midnight.
TEAN New Zealand students live in university managed housing in either a hall of residence, apartment or flat. Each housing type normally has a senior uni student living there as a residential assistant or Kiwi-host to provide a support and liaison function.
As you are living in a shared accommodation, it is important to be mindful of your behavior and impact on others in terms of noise and social gatherings, and to be respectful of shared household rules and responsibility for kitchen and bathroom cleanliness.
A housing bond is paid to the university (this is the $350 you already paid to TEAN). You can request the refund from TEAN at the end of the semester. It will be returned if your room and common living areas are left in a clean and tidy condition with no reported damages.
University of Otago
University Flats Office
109 St David Street
Phone: (03) 479 6535
Email: flats@otago.ac.nz
Emergency Services: If you’re in an accident or need urgent medical attention, call 111
You will be asked to choose from our ambulance, fire or police services. The person on the other line will walk you through what you need to ask for if you’re not sure.
TEAN’s Regional Resident Assistants are available to help if anything goes amiss. If you need advice or you simply want to talk, feel feel to give them a ring!
On Lee Lau : Dunedin : 021 353 998
Aleisha Lord: Dunedin: 027 372 9707
Allison Ferris: Christchurch : 022 045 2151
Shivani Rajan: Auckland : 022 390 6356
Josh Horrell : Auckland : 027 529 3232
Dianne Fountaine-Cody : Palmy : 021 063 6921
Ashley Stewart: Wellington : 027 768 7815
Rachel Fenton : NZ Director, based in Auckland : 021 031 4248
University of Otago International support
Phone: (03) 479 8344
Email: international.support@otago.ac.nz
Campus Watch
Phone: free phone 0800 479 5000
Email: campus.watch@otago.ac.nz
Websites like EventFinda and Stuff Events are awesome for keeping up with what’s going on in the city. TEAN also emails a monthly newsletter ‘What’s on’ for a sampler of free and low-cost events in the city and across the region.
There’s a thing called the “Dunedin Sound” that came about in the early 1980s with many local musos (musicians) blending “lo-fi” styles that put Dunedin bands on the national map. Of course, the more recent Otago “Scarfie” student homegrown band is Six60 (named after the members living at 660 Castle Street while attending Otago, listen to this song – SIX60, Don’t Forget Your Roots.
Unfortunately, the city has recently lost a few of the historic venues where the “Dunedin Sound” really came together. The major music venues now are Forsyth Barr Stadium and Dunedin Town Hall, where you can get expensive tickets for bigger international acts via TicketMaster or TicketDirect. Alternatively, Re:Fuel (Otago’s campus pub) holds a good capacity and attracts a regular set of students, bands and locals. A few small coffee shops, pubs, galleries, hotels and community centers are also starting to put on shows to fill the gap for small venues.
For shows with local musicians, check out the Open Mic Nights at the Bog or Dog with Two Tails, and check the show listings at Under the Radar.
We Kiwis love our movies and all of our movie theaters in Dunedin are in the two blocks around the Octagon. Always ask if they have a student discount offer.
The Regent
18 The Octagon, Dunedin
Regent Theatre puts on one-off showings of Rocky Horror, Banff Mountain Film Festival, and International Film Festival.
Rialto
11 Moray Pl, Dunedin
Rialto Cinema shows the blockbusters along with the more indie films.
Reading
34 The Octagon, Dunedin
Reading Cinema is the biggest cinema in town showing movies in 3D and 2D.
MetroCinema
Town Hall Building Moray Pl, Dunedin
MetroCinema is smaller indie film venue and is connected to Dunedin Town Hall.
Dunedin has a dedicated performing arts scene that is often connected to the University of Otago’s theatre studies degree programme. You’ll likely see flyers for performances at Allen Hall (on campus near the Clock Tower), The Playhouse Theatre, Globe Theatre, Mayfair Theatre and improv troupe Improsaurus. Also look out for events when the Fringe Festival is in town!
The Dunedin Bucket List created by your TEAN Dunedin Resident Director
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