It is, perhaps, unfair to compare an AirBnB experience to that of a dorm room in a hostel. Even so, I could not have imagined the differences to have been more stark. A private room with cupboards, drawers, a queen-size bed and a sizeable wall-mounted television felt especially luxurious after top-bunking with a rotation of loathsome youth. The rest of the house was shared with only one fellow guest, a very pleasant and very sharp American-Danish woman of 84. The house itself was spacious and relaxed, with a neat garden and an attractive mountain view. Staying in was actually an option here. Perched atop Pine Hill, the place was a bit further afield than the admittedly well-situated hostel, but it was easy enough to stroll into town and there was a nearby bus for when that wasn't practicable. Before settling on a gentler path down Pine Hill Road to George Street, I tried a steep, twisting route suggested (through some algorithmic error) by Google Maps. Returning home this way was like walking up a corkscrew.
The Dunedin Botanic Gardens, which lay at the bottom of the hill near a small shopping strip, was an ever-pleasant stopover on my journeys into town. The topography and diverse selection of flora form handsome views that can be enjoyed from a range of vantage points, the steeper the better. I was partial to the native forest areas buried in the hills, despite getting thoroughly lost in them on my first encounter. They are reached via a flat open section that runs from the main entrance and provides many decent spots in which to enjoy minimum chips and polite drizzle.
The gardens lead into several streets of student accommodation, just outside Otago University. Most of the properties were identical two-storey Victorian townhouses in varying states of decay. On a sobering morning it's a wasteland of broken bottles, discarded plastic cups and weatherworn leather couches. I would push on to reach the grand stone buildings of the university proper. As with some of the historical buildings in town, there was restorative work going on during my stay, and the iconic clock tower was blotted out by scaffolding. I never ended up gatecrashing any lectures, but I did wonder if I was a convincing grey-haired student.