My daughter has just spent the weekend visiting friends and family down in Dunedin. This is her story.
Courtchella
My “hotel room” was my sister’s dorm room, complete with a single bed which, as my friends were so delighted to tell me, had contained a naked man only hours before. After throwing my bag down, we headed out to the botanical gardens.
Upon stepping out into the infamous Castle Street, we were greeted by hoards of drunk people at the somewhat acceptable (note: by Dunedin’s standards) time of 12pm (noon). We quickly discovered that it was Courtchella. A parody of Coachella, held at a Castle Street flat with loud music in attendance. In a way it was the perfect welcome from the student city, if not slightly terrifying.
Along the street we dodged to avoid a group of girls trying to tie their shoelaces against a car – which their balance wouldn’t quite allow – and unfortunately while doing so we ducked dangerously close to a group of young men pissing on a fence together. I use the word fence lightly, as it was more a stump of wood in the ground within the radius of a nearby fence. An easy mistake to make I’m sure.
We had finally made it to the botanical gardens. With children smiling and playing everywhere, it was (almost) easy to forget the chaos just a street down. Here was had a pleasant time. Sipping our tea and coffee, we caught up on everything I’d missed from Selwyn. Breakups, scandals, it was all very juicy. It was around the time I realised the middle aged man next to us was reading “fifty shades of grey” with a pen to jot down notes, we decided to head back. Paying for our overly expensive snacks and drinks, we began our journey through the crowd of drunk people yet again.
The time was 2pm. Broken bottles made Castle Street sparkle. We walked in awe of the drunk and high people all around us. Poor Ruby had a close call near the end of the street. A drunken man, who we hadn’t seen yet, glowered at her crying “what are you looking at??” He then proceeded to go into a sort of battle stance, crouching awkwardly – ready for a tackle. Ruby looked straight past him as he went for her knees, a narrow miss as we scuttled to safety. The Dn’B music echoed late into the night, leaving me wondering if I too had the ability to be drinking heavily for 12 solid hours. It was an interesting day to say the least, and very reflective of the student culture of dunners that I love.