The Catlins

Shortly after Adam departed, we took a 3-day trip down to the southernmost part of the South Island to visit the beautiful area known as The Catlins. This would be our last trip during our extended stay in New Zealand. We drove to Christchurch, flew to Invercargil and drove east to our accomodations in Surat Bay. Our accomodation was a cottage that was basic, but remained warm despite intense rain the night we arrived and high winds the next night.

Surat Bay is a small community of 20 people (literally) with the nearest town about a 10-minute drive away. In fact, The Catlins are very rural with few towns or even restaurants. So, we had to plan our travels (and our meals) carefully. 

Surat Bay Beach, about a block from where we stayed, was named after a ship that was shipwrecked there in 1874. We saw a sleeping seal during our walk on the beach. Seals are everywhere in the Catlins as demonstrated by the road warning signs. Thankfully, we didn't encounter any on the roads.

After our morning walk on the beach, we drove to see several other sights. The first was a series of rock formations known as The Nuggets, along with the Nugget Point Lighthouse (one of the oldest in NZ). We thought this site was much more impressive than the far more well-known (and well-marketed) Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road in Austailia. Far less croweded too.

After our stop at The Nuggets, we did not expect the rest of the sights to measure up, and perhaps they did not; but, as usual, New Zealand continues to impress with its physical beauty. First, we stopped at Purakaunui Falls, which was easy to access and very impressive.

Then, we stopped at Jack's Blowhole, which was impressive in size, but not easy to photograph. However, the walk out to the blowhole provided some amazing views.

The next day, there were even more sights to see as we made our way back to Invercargil. First, McLean falls, which included a beautiful walk to get there.

Next, we stopped at Curio Bay where we we able to see the petrified forrest from above. Unfortunately, the sea was far too rough to climb down and see the forrest up close, but our view of the roiling sea was quite impressive.

Finally, we stopped at Slope Point, which is the most southern point of New Zealand's South Island. If you look closely at the picture, you can see that it indicates that we are closer to the South Pole than we are to the Equator. While a lot of land is closer to the North Pole than the Equator, this is a very rare point in the Southern Hemisphere. The Great Southern Ocean, which separates Antartica from the rest of the world is huge, so there is very little land south of 45 degrees south latitude. 

We were also able to get a couple of pictures that show how rough the sea was the day we were there (very common for this area). To get an idea of how high the spray is, the point we were on was about 50-60 feet above the level of the ocean.

Although we did not have great weather in the Catlins, we very much enjoyed exploring the area. Unfortunately, the rough seas closed the most famous site, The Cathedral Caves, which are only open at low tide in calm (or at least calmer) seas. So, if you get to the Catlins, don't miss The Cathedral Caves if they are open.

Hasta pronto.

Jeff and Shana