We drove down from Dunedin along the Southern Scenic Route. We then followed the sign posted scenic route which went along the coast to Invercargill. This included lots of stops along the stunning Catlins Coast, a stretch of wilderness that began just south of Balclutha.
We were due to make it to Curio Bay for the night but stopped in Owaka instead so we could set up chilled out and in daylight! It was a strange hostel, later found out it was a old hospital, that could explain the odd feel to it!
Woke up in another hot hot tent! The sun was out this morning – a great thing – apart from when it comes to tents! Had a good breakfast of eggs and toast, made some nutella sandwiches for the road and spent the morning in the kitchen and had some amazingly interesting conversations with a guy who’s lived in New Orleans all his life (the “100% safe zone”) – a hurricane Katrina survivor and a nice lady (news journalist) from Koln. In the afternoon we were back off onto the Scenic Road with several stops bookmarked for along the way. We drove to Nugget Point which was really amazing we had to walk along a cliff path with a huge drops to the ocean on either side and at the end there was a light house that overlooked some of the most amazing views we have seen so far (you will have to see the pictures) lots of baby seals on the rocks below and we spent lots of time here just looking out watching the waves hit the wave thrashed vertical rocks – amazing. After that we had a short drive down the coast to Kaka Beach which was beautiful, sandy white beach, no wind and the sun was out – so we sat for a couple of hours enjoying the view and reading our books! When we could finally get ourselves up we headed to our farm stay place right near tomorrows locations.
First stop was Slope Point, the Southern Most tip of New Zealand Mainland – walked through a couple of nice fields to what was supposed to be a very picturesque setting, it was pretty average!! Took the obligatory picture and walked back! Broom Broom a bit further and we got to Porpoise Bay – where we got to see Sea Lions fighting over a female Sea Lion, and did a little Whale Spotting, but weren’t that lucky! We did however see a couple of dolphins from the distance swimming near people that were brave (CRAZY!!) to get in the what must of been absolutely freezing water!! Back on the road, next stop was Curio Bay just around the corner where there was a fossilised jurassic forest in the Beach! About 170million years old!! You could see the tree stumps and logs, the first few were really interesting and the whole bay was covered, but once you’d seen one you had seen them all!
We then finished the drive to Invercargill, where we went to the cinema – saw Avatar, really really good! And then did our Christmas food shop! Now pretty much sorted for Christmas, and feeling a lot more festive with the car decorated and the whole back seats covered in food shopping and presents! We camped just outside of town, in the rain, and still pretty cold haha but very excited that it was the last night in a tent for a couple of days!
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