How to make the most of Jetstar direct flights from Gold Coast to Dunedin

Flights are on sale for the Gold Coast’s newest direct destination. From wildlife to Whittaker’s milkshakes, here’s everything you need to know before you go.

Things can get a little wild in Dunedin.

While a bar scene propped on a healthy student population delivers its share of after-dark action, the southern city’s animal attractions are closer than I expected.

A sea lion lolls on sand spliced by sunbathers at surf mecca St Clair, where I sip my latte in an esplanade cafe.

Later, I huddle in the dunes to watch yellow-eyed penguins on their dusk dash as another kind of night-life stirs in the city.

After a quick change, I join my own kind for brews and bluff oysters at Emerson’s Brewery.

Emerson’s Brewery is one of Dunedin’s most lively watering holes. Picture: Dunedin NZ

The cooler months – and there are a disproportionate amount of them – are a chance to dress up in coats, boots and scarfs, finding fireside crannies in cosy bars to pass lingering nights.

New Zealand’s wildlife capital is that rare blend of urban culture and nature uncut – and it’s more accessible than ever thanks to new direct flights from Gold Coast Airport.

No longer a detour drive from flashy, connected Queenstown, a three-and-a-half-hour dash over the ditch promises to put the underrated Dunedin on local travel radars.

Jetstar’s Executive Manager – Customer Jenn Armor said the first flight was on track to take off on June 24 and expected to be popular.

It will be serviced by a new 188-seat Airbus A320 NEO, bringing Jetstar’s Gold Coast fleet to six aircraft.

New direct Jetstar flights mean you could be enjoying high tea at Lanarch Castle in a jiffy.

“We’re ready to launch two new trans-Tasman services from the Gold Coast to Hamilton and Dunedin next month,” Ms Armor said.

“These flights will offer our customers even more choice and over 115,000 new low-fares seats every year across the two routes.

“Demand is strong for both Hamilton and Dunedin services, which will open two new gateways to the North and South islands.”

While Ms Armor was tipping the Dunedin flights to be loaded with “Kiwi expats living in southeast Queensland and New Zealanders who have always loved holidaying on the Gold Coast”, I suspect the love will flow both ways once Gold Coasters catch on to NZ’s best-kept secret.

I first visited about a decade ago on a South Island road trip, a perfunctory, no-expectations stop to refuel in ‘civilisation’ as we looped over to the east coast from Milford Sound.

The wildlife is closer than you think at Dunedin. Picture: Chris McNeil

It was a one-night affair in this city with Scottish soul, but enough to whet my appetite for several return visits.

Dunedin boasts a very walkable CBD, streets spidering from the Octagon at its core.

Your feet will carry you through the Edwardian era via immaculately preserved architecture and back into the present through art-splashed alleys full of smart eateries.

They’re all you need to see the bygone glamour of Dunedin Railway Station, frozen in its affluent foundation year of 1906, and the endlessly intriguing Tūhura Otago Museum, the final resting place of a plesiosaur that once prowled off the coast.

If you’re inclined to get behind the wheel – albeit for a whole 10 minutes – the suburbs have their secrets too.

Fellow Gold Coasters may feel an affinity with beachside St Clair and its salt-sprayed esplanade.

There are swankier digs, hiding behind handsome heritage facades in the CBD, but the pastel-painted The Hydro hunkered on the corner has got to be my favourite spot to stay.

It’d be tough to beat the view from St Clair icon The Hydro. Picture: DunedinNZ

The historic building hosted roaring 1920s dance parties as the Hydro Grand Hotel and the crème of society as it transitioned to tearooms, but now houses holiday apartments.

Stretching from the old-fashioned shark alarm bell to a wave-washed ocean pool, it’s all about the view.

It doesn’t hurt that just downstairs there’s a cracker of an Italian, called Esplanade, which makes Whittaker’s chocolate milkshakes alongside soul-warming pizza and pasta.

One of Dunedin’s best short walks is also nearby.

Tunnel Beach delivers panoramic coastal vantages as it meanders from sheep paddock to sculpted sandstone coastline.

Tunnel Beach is a short but spectacular coastal walk. Picture: Roady

It’s named for the tunnel at the bottom of the track, its rock walls worn smooth by thousands of hands as they navigate its 72 slick, carved steps.

Otago settlement founder William Cargill’s son John had the portal to a hidden beach dug in the 1870s so his family could enjoy a private dip.

Local legend suggests one, or both, of his daughters tragically drowned in the secluded spot.

The story, however embellished in its retellings, is a haunting fit for the windswept, razor-cliffed seascape at the end of this midnight portal.

Organic wildlife encounters are common throughout Dunedin, but most of the official opportunities are an easy drive from the CBD on Otago Peninsula.

You can see the world’s only mainland albatross colony at the Royal Albatross Centre and its rarest penguins, hoiho or yellow-eyed penguins, on a range of tours.

Hang out with sea lions on the Otago Peninsula. Picture: DunedinNZ

I also spied lots of lively sea lions at Sandfly Bay.

It takes a bit of puff to get back up the dunes if you follow the track past the viewing platform – but it’s nothing high tea treats at Lanarch Castle can’t fix.

The writer travelled at her own expense (via the previously indirect route of a flight into Queenstown).

Jetstar’s Gold Coast to Dunedin direct route will operate three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) from June 24. The airline currently has one-way fares from the Gold Coast to Dunedin from $198.

Originally published as How to make the most of Jetstar direct flights from Gold Coast to Dunedin