hills and cold

I've gone from one city built up and down hills to another.
In a few ways Dunedin is like a smaller version of my other New Zealand home, Wellington. Both are nestled between hills and a harbor, both lay claim to a better nightlife and music scene than their size would normally call for. And both have a reputation for leaving something to be desired in the weather department: Wellington for wind and Dunedin for cold.
I realized the other day I'm almost exactly as far away from the equator as I was growing up in Montana. Dunedin lies at 46 degrees South. Geraldine, Montana, is 47.6 degrees North.
Since I'm about 1,000 miles closer to an ocean here in Dunedin, it doesn't get quite as bitterly cold here. But after four years of living in Mississippi all the natural antifreeze built up by my upbringing has left my blood, so the near-freezing temperatures here are testing my body's ability to cope. Fortunately, the hostel has wood fireplaces so I can blast heat into a room without having to curse the Kiwi lack of central heating.
Unfortunately, the hostel sits at the top of the hill overlooking downtown. I've had to trudge up and down (it feels like mostly up) more hills here than I usually did in Wellington, since we lived in the relatively flat central city. If we choose to take the elevation on all at once, the sidewalk at the end of the street turns into a staircase with 169 steps, which leads to another set of about 30 steps. Otherwise, we just walk up a constant grade to get to the same place.
On the plus side, the city really does seem like a fun place to go out in, when I get up the motivation to brave the stairs.