It used to be New Plymouth was only really famous for its dairy cows, and maybe its surfing. Oh, and that perfect volcanic peak you can see from pretty much anywhere around these parts.

But over the last couple of decades, something special’s been stirring in the heart of Taranaki. Plenty enough to make a 48-hour Swanni adventure here more than worthwhile, anyways. So let’s dive on in and see what mischief we can rustle up on the coast.

A shot of a half-eaten Fergburger. A not-quite-wide-enough wide angle of The Remarkables. A view from the Onsen Hot Pools with your semi-submerged buttocks in the foreground.

Right. Now that you’ve ticked off the Queenstown Instagram clichés (or not), it’s time to put away your phone, put on your Swanni, and get stuck into some of our recommendations for how to spend 48 hours in the epicentre of our epic South Island.

Sailors, scarfies, design gurus, goldminers…. Plenty of folks have found good reason to rush to Dunedin over the years.

And while the weather here may not always merit writing home about (they don’t call it the Edinburgh of the South for nothing), everything in Dunners is very much in the walkable bracket. So what more excuse do you need to slip on your favourite Swanni and spend 48 hours discovering what this ‘cool as’ little city has to offer.