They were two refugees from a cultural wasteland.
Carla Roberts, 15 and Amy McAulay, 14, are from Tauranga, a city with no museum and a council that recently voted not to build one - which is why the two teenagers were in Dunedin on Thursday, a city blessed with top-notch museums and more culture that you can poke a stick at.
"Awesome" was their response after visiting Toitu Otago Settlers Museum and the Otago Museum.
They later visited Animation Research Ltd (ARL).
The pair won a trip south after winning an essay competition on why Tauranga should have a museum. The competition was run by Taonga Tauranga, a group established to build support for a museum.