Winter in Dunedin

I was in between temp jobs and decided to go down to visit my friends in Dunedin in June. The seasons are switched for me, and just as it took some time to get used to Christmas in the summer, it also took some time to get used to hearing June and winter in the same sentence. And while the temperature scale was not nearly as low as I've seen it (I went to high school and undergrad in a tiny mountain town where it once dropped to -39º and if you're wondering if that's Fahrenheit or Celsius, the answer is yes), I have never been so cold as I was for that week.

The weather was not stellar while I was visiting, but I did manage to get a good shot of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter when they got together to have a party.

The city of Dunedin holds a midwinter carnival, which was started in 2000, to combat the seasonal blues. The Octagon at the center of town is closed to traffic, local food vendors set up shop, bands play, there's a merry-go-round, and fireworks are set off at the end of the night.

The main attraction is a parade of roughly 1,000 volunteers, which is comprised of stilt walkers, dancers, drummers, and families who have made their own lanterns. It's quite an impressive spectacle. I spent most of it happily slinging tortilla chips for my friends' food cart, but I did sneak out to catch a few photos.

It doesn't often snow in Dunedin, which is good as it is home to the steepest residential street in the world, and the surrounding streets aren't exactly what you might call flat. But one morning, we woke up to this!

It was also harvest season for the Southern Hemisphere Pasta Tree, and the bounty this year was great!