We spent the entire day skimming along the southern coast on the Southern Scenic Route and the even more southern scenic roads. It was nice to get off RT 1 and the heavier (relatively) traffic. First stop was Nugget Point where there is a quick hike to an old light house. We saw sea lions basking below us with their pups playing in the tide pools. Chatted with a Canadian couple down to visit their daughter. We see a lot of people visiting from other UK commonwealth countries. Maybe they travel based on marmite being available. Still not sure what marmite is...
Next stop was the Cathedral Caves which are two huge sea caves that you can only go into during low tide. Low tide today was 11:45 am and by the time we drove the tiny road in, paid the nice man, hiked down the hill, and across the beach it was 12:30 and the tide was coming back in. Another 30 minutes and we would not have made it in. We wondered what would happen if you got stuck in there??
We hiked back out with a couple from Australia who originally moved here from South Africa. Nothing like a good conversation to make you forget about the return hike uphill from the beach. Next stop was the Whistling Frog for an afternoon cuppa. We had our usual cheese, salami, and crackers in the car for lunch with some fruit we picked up this morning but have not yet figured out tea and coffee on the road. There is no such thing as just coffee here. We are getting pretty spoiled with flat whites and chai lattes.
Next stop was Curio Bay, another seaside campground. Erick and Hannah camped here a few years ago and it is a pretty big campground. Not too busy, but we walked the bluff overlooking the sea and then walked the beach where we could see the dolphins playing out in the water. A young woman from England was there checking out the dolphins. She worked on the Isle of Skye studying dolphins and now has a job as a dolphin guide on a small cruise ship down here (100 people or so) touring Antarctica.
Our final stop in the Catlins was the southern most spot in New Zealand they call Slope Point. It's hard to believe the weather is so temperate here this far down. The wind here was intense and any tree around was deformed in a bent over fashion due to the constant wind. We hiked back to the car and headed to Invercargill. This is a pretty good sized town, around 50,000 people. We found our AirBnB and drove downtown to walk around a bit and get supper. We found Speight's Ale House and got a couple of big salads. We parked right next to the hardware store where Burt Munro's Indian motorcycle is (back tomorrow) and walked just a few blocks to the Motorcycle Mecca museum which I'll visit tomorrow.
It will be nice to spend a couple nights in one place.
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