Musician Nadia Reid’s guide to Dunedin: Top places to eat, drink, swim and explore

The genre-bending musician maps her memories of Ōtepoti through cafes, beaches, record shops and hidden walks.

Sitting down to share the secrets of her hometown, it’s clear musician Nadia Reid has spread her wings far beyond the harbour. She speaks of Ōtepoti with affection and with such vividness that it colours my own memories of the place.

“I love talking about Dunedin when I’m not there,” she says from Manchester, her home for the past two years.

“It’s quite a romantically cold, miserable place, really. But there’s a reason why it’s attracted so many artists and musicians. I mean, the landscape, the weather.

“It’s either Hamish Kilgour or the fella from The Verlaines who talks about Dunedin as a sort of cauldron, which is quite an apt way to describe it, I think."

Born in Devonport and raised by her solo mum, Reid moved to Dunedin as a young child, starting at Arthur Street Primary and eventually settling in its hill-laced seaport, Port Chalmers.

“I grew up on the top of the hill and had this absolutely stunning view of the harbour. And I sort of took it for granted. Like, I didn’t think anything of it.

“And now ... I mean, all respect to the UK, but Manchester’s got nothing on Dunedin. The beauty of the harbour, the hills, and just being that close to the sea. It’s really something that I can’t shake.”

This summer, she’ll weave some of that home time around a string of shows across New Zealand and Australia, with a show at Auckland’s Powerstation tonight, culminating in a milestone: her first headline performance at Dunedin’s grand Regent Theatre on December 19.

Reid shares with Viva the familiar places she seeks out whenever she’s home, and the ones that shaped her into the genre-bending powerhouse musician she is today.

My favourite way to get to Dunedin is flying in. It’s always quite a treat because it’s generally a short flight - depending on where you’re coming from. However, the airport is so far away from the city. It’s so annoying to get into town, and it smells of cow dung.

I also quite like doing the drive from Christchurch to Dunedin, and stopping in at Riverstone Kitchen.

Something I wish people knew before they visited is just how mind-blowingly beautiful it is. After being in the UK for two years, I realised I took it for granted, growing up there.

A go-to restaurant of mine is Esplanade at St Clair Beach. It’s Italian, it has such a beautiful view, and the food’s great. It’s always packed. There’s sand all over the floor and it just feels like an institution. Great coffee, and it’s bang on the Esplanade. When I had my first daughter in 2021, I would sometimes just get in the car with her, drive out to St Clair, stare at the ocean, then go there.

He’s been there for ages, 20 years minimum. I remember going as a kid. He roasts the coffee himself. You can sit outside and just soak in the world, and the coffee is superb. I’d always send friends of mine who were touring down there or visiting there for a flat white and a bag of coffee.

For a cheap and cheerful night out, there’s a great Japanese place called Jizo. It’s like the student go-to, and it’s BYO. It’s fast, really fairly priced and just delicious. That’s also on Moray Place. So these are all quite close to each other.

Keen for a drink? Definitely head to Woof! bar. When Dudley and Josh opened, it filled this huge hole that had been missing. It’s a place to gather, and it seemed to attract all these beautiful, like-minded people. They were so thoughtful with everything, the menu, the cocktails, the interiors.

For your grocery shopping, Taste Nature is pretty special. It’s an organic store. They’ve got a little kitchen with organic, healthy food, vegetables and so on. It’s my kind of thing. I can never just walk past an organic store. I’m very happy in them.

Something you’ll need to time your visit for is the Otago Farmers Market at the railway station. It’s just such a joy. Fruit, vegetables and amazing food trucks. I used to go busking there back in the day and it’d be great, it gets really busy. Like, the people love the buskers.

Being who I am now, if I’m alone in Dunedin, I would probably go out to St Clair, grab a coffee and go for a swim at the saltwater pool. When it’s warm enough, it’s just heavenly there.

My favourite community space is the Port Chalmers Town Hall, which is owned by the council. I don’t run it every year anymore, but I would run these Christmas shows there, which would go quite well. The hall is refurbished and it’s beautifully looked after, with stunning wooden floors and a stage.

It’s basically a town hall, but for me, there’s something about it. I think, because of all the shows I’ve put on there, it holds this sacredness that feels really special to me. I feel at home there, and it’s beautifully maintained, whereas not all of those spaces are.

On a sunny day, I would go up to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary, where my friend Tahu works. She would always take me in there, and I’d just walk around, listen to the birds. It’s really stunning. Then I’d sit in the cafe, probably. Or I’d go to St Clair Beach.

But if it’s raining, I’d just put on my raincoat and walk from Port Chalmers around to Carey’s Bay Hotel to have a meal in front of the fire.

A secret gem others might not know about is this walk up Mt Cargill called the Organ Pipes. To access the pathway, you drive up the Mt Cargill area and there’s a little, tiny car park. You’d miss it unless you knew it.

When you reach the top, you get this great high because you’re out of breath from the workout. Then at the top, you get this 360-degree view of the whole city. I got in the habit of trying to do it as much as I could, just because it was such a good workout, but it’s definitely something I would take visitors to.

The best beach has to be a toss-up between St Clair Beach and Aramoana Beach, which is a little further out. It’s a pretty special spot. You’ve got to take this quite treacherous, windy road right out to the end, and there’s only one way out.

The most picturesque drive is from Port Chalmers to Northeast Valley. We call it taking the back road, where you wind behind Sawyers Bay, then up Mt Cargill and over the top, then you wind down and you’ll be in the Northeast Valley. You’d probably have to know to go that way, but you get a great view when the weather’s good.

A creative space you can’t miss out on is the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. It holds a lot of memories for me and feels like a really safe, comforting space. I spent a lot of my teen years there, and they used to have this VHS library full of New Zealand films. I’m sure a lot of people would remember it.

They’d have six or so armchairs and headphones, and you could go and pick a VHS, put it in and sit there and watch it – and it was all free. I remember doing that quite often, actually. Watching An Angel at My Table, Ruby and Rata and all these other classics.

Obviously, I love music. And if I was in Dunedin, I’d head straight to Relics on George St. They’re an independent record store, they’re genuine music lovers, and I love the idea of supporting independent and local.

A meaningful landmark to me is the large anchor overlooking Port Chalmers, known as the “Nineteen Fathom Foul”. It was hauled ashore from the harbour in 1978 and placed up the hill at Centenary Lookout on the way to Orokonui.

In 2019, I formed this very casual record label, just to house some of my older records. And my husband designed the logo for the record label, and the anchor was incorporated into it. I feel like it’s very Port Chalmers, and I like the imagery of the anchor. It’s the first thing that came to my mind.

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