Day 6 - This area is called the Catlins Coast and a good portion of it is scenic reserves. When Europeans first came to NZ, they cut down every tree in site, so all of the forest reserves are replanted and now protected as it seems the bent of even modern day NZers is to clear everything and raise dairy cows or sheep. The Catlins had/now has a lot of rain forest and it is lovely to drive through. Today, we catch every tourist site we can along our road. We start with a walk on the estuary beach to see the sea lions. It is a lovely hard sand beach stretching for a mile between steep rocky cliffs. We are not disappointed, there are two bulls sunning themselves (and not paying any attention to us) and further down the beach we find a female, her pup and a younger female. These guys are playing just at the edge of the surf, the little guy antagonizing his mother. Our next stop is a blow hole, but it is unique in that it is inland from the beach/cliffs by about 200 meters. You walk along a path that meanders along the beach, then up the rugged coastal cliffs to a stunning lookout and then out into the middle of a flat grassy sheep pasture. "Poof" there it is, this great big hole in the ground, roughly 2000 sq.ft. in area and probably 50 feet deep. The ocean surf is pounding in the bottom and the sheer rocky sides warn you to stand back as escape would be impossible. The tide was low when we visited so now big plumes, but when the tide is high and the surge is strong the waters will crash up and out of the hole. That would be an awe inspiring site. It is raining again by mid day, which is fitting for our hike into a "rain forest" to view the MacLean water falls. It is a nice walk and the falls are worth the effort. We also want to see the Cathedral caves, but the tide is too high by the time we get there and they are submerged. Oh well, we will imagine them from our guide book pictures. Our stopping point tonight is Curios Bay. The camp site is on a cliff, jutting out into the ocean, quite exposed to all of the elements. Each camper spot is surrounded by huge spikey leafed plants (6 ft tall) that are call "flax". They look like giant aloe vera plants. This is a neat change in itself. It is 5:30pm now and pouring rain, with a sideways wind, not nice. This is the time of day that the little yellow eyed penguins come home from fishing all day to feed their young that are hidden in the trees and rocks along the shore. So off we go umbrellas in hand and we are rewarded for our touristiness by witnessing these little guys in their wild environment, up close and personal. Trudging in from the open ocean like someone coming home from an exhausting day at work. This is also the site of a Jurassic age petrified forest that you can see at low tide and the specimens are truly well preserved. It makes you feel pretty young to line up against one of those ancient specimens. This has been a great day. The Catlins are a superbly different and unique piece of the world. This is also the southern most part of NZ's South Island. The south winds that blow here are from the Antarctic!
Day 7 - We pass through Niagara (NZ) on our travels today and believe it or not, they even have Niagara Falls there too! Sadly we didn't have time for a photo op. We head for Invercargill, the home of Burt Munro - the world's fastest Indian (motorcycle). Burt (now deceased) still holds the land record for speed, in his motorcycle class, on the salt flats of Utah. We even get to see "the" motorcycle. Invercargill has the widest streets of any city we have ever been in; more cities should pattern themselves after this place. It has managed to maintain a whole downtown of heritage (150 yrs old) buildings. We have lunch here and walk around the city centre then head on our way. We travel the southern scenic route so we are always touching the ocean on our left and grazing lands or forest to our right. A stop along the way at a souvenir shop is always a must as it gives us an excuse to stretch our legs and a chance to yak with somebody local which allows for rapid intake of area history/news. The trees along this coast grow sideways, like they have been blown on for every moment of their growth, but in reality it because of the salt spray that they occasionally get that causes them to grow crooked. Humm…who knew? Again we find our travel distance is shorter than we estimated and we stop for the day at Manapouri, in the heart of Fiordland, a day ahead of ourselves.
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