Dunedin to Invercargill - The Catlins Forest Coastal Adventure

We took the coastal scenic route from Dunedin to Invercargill and stopped at any turning that caught our eye. We had no idea what to expect on this route. The sun shone but the roads were icy in the shadows, and though Joe drove carefully, we still had a few scary swerves in the ice!

Nugget point 

Our first stop was nugget point. Our reason for stopping here was 80% because of the name. We were expecting chicken nuggets, or even golden nuggets, but what we found was a beautiful morning walk up to a lighthouse overlooking "the nuggets" - which are a group of large rocks in the ocean just off the edge of the peninsular. The sea was so blue and the water swirled around these rocks with such power and force of the waves crashing on the cliffs.

Nugget Point

The nuggets at Nugget Point

Stop #2 - Cannibal Bay. Again, the name caught our eye first. But I'm glad we did, because what we found on this beautiful little beach was one of the highlights of my whole trip. We wanted to find out how Cannibal Bay got it's name, but instead of enlightenment, we found the most awesome majestic creature basking in the glorious sunshine. A flump! Or as most people call them, a sea lion. It was so amazing to see one so close in the wild, and we completely weren't expecting it!

Tired flump

Sandy flump

Sea lions are a much different species to seals - like we saw in Kaikoura, but are both part of a group called Pinnipeds. Differences can be seen in their size - as sea lions are much bigger and have larger flippers which they use for walking on land, where seals usually floop on their bellies.

Our third stop was Purakaurai Falls in the Catlins forest. It was a short walk from the car park to this picturesque and powerful waterfall in the forest. The flowing water made a change from all the frozen water we'd seen on this trip.

Purakaurai Falls

Beautiful view over a bay along the route

 In my next post, I'll tell you what happened when we reached Invercargill, and why we made a speedy exit from there to go to Queenstown!

Christchurch and Lake Tekapo

Christchurch is a new city, or rather most of what has been built was constructed after one of the two major earthquakes. It is clear that the city is still recovering, but also clear that they are quickly rebuilding better and stronger. 

Note the marking on this Christchurch street map, signifying where we ACTUALLY are. It seems nobody knows!

One of the main sights of the city is the Re:Start mall - a shopping centre that has been built out of shipping containers. Originally meant as a quick fix, I'm sure, but now is one of the reasons tourists stop in the city.

Joe and I, however, were bamboozled by two things:

1. Street space invaders - a giant joystick and buttons on the pavement control the action on the large screen on the other side of the road. Essentially playing a computer game right there in the street. You can try it on your own or team up with a mate. Unlike the popular arcade game, this version is completely free, and we thought it was amazing - I'm surprised there was no queue of people waiting to have a go (just us nerds).

2. C1 Espresso Cafe - curly fries and other side dishes are delivered to your table through pneumatic tubes that traveled from the kitchen, across the ceiling and down to your table! To reach the restrooms in this cafe you must walk through a sliding bookcase, and Star Wars figurines tell you which toilet to use. (It did take me a moment to figure out if I was Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, or even R2D2). You can help yourself to tap water in the restaurant by pumping the old traditional sewing machine. This cafe is a hipsters dream, but we loved it. 

Food delivery tubes in C1 Espresso Cafe

Lake Tekapo

From there, we met up with one of our PGL friends, Serin, and headed for a day out at Lake Tekapo, a small town in the mountains. It was good to see a familiar face on the other side of the world and hang out with someone we know after all this time! The lake surrounded by mountains was absolutely stunning, and was the first time on our journey that there was actual snow around us. 

Lake Tekapo

We spent the afternoon watching the sunset over the mountains from the warmth of the thermal hot pools. Much like those in Rotorua, but without the strong eggy smell. It was luxurious, and to continue this luxury, we treated ourselves to a nice private room at a hostel (because it was far too cold to sleep in the van, and all the dorm rooms were sold out!)

We took a chilly night time walk to the hills to stargaze, saw a shooting star and stood in awe at the view of the galaxy over the mountains. The moon was too bright for decent pictures but the sky was clear and it didn't stop us enjoying this moment. 

Stars over Lake Tekapo

The drive out of the mountains towards Dunedin was spectacular, with an ever changing landscape and crystal clear lakes mirroring the scenery surrounding them. Only disturbed by a single stone being thrown into it, and the ripples go on and on and on...

Crystal clear lake

New Zealand's South Island - Picton to Kaikoura

Only getting slightly lost on the way to Wellington Ferry Terminal, we made it in good time for the first morning ferry. Not bad considering we didn't have a satnav! (We originally planned to get one for this trip before deciding getting lost isn't always such a bad thing.)

The 3 hour crossing was smooth, and we spent most of it in the cinema room. Yes, these boats have a cinemas! The scenery ahead of us was amazing, as we went out on deck to view the blue skies and mountains that welcomed us to the south island.

View from the ferry

Eels!

 We reached the terminal in Picton, a picturesque seaside town, like a much smaller version of the UK's Torquay - and with an epic mountain backdrop.

From here, the highway south towards Christchurch is still closed following the earthquake last year, so we took the inland route. This took us through St Arnaud and past the stunningly beautiful lake Rotoiti, which was full of eels that could be easily seen through the crystal clear water whilst standing on the dock above it,

Lake Rotoiti

We stopped for the night in a town called Murchison, where for our first night on the south island we were unsure whether the night temperature would be too cold to sleep in the van. We chickened out and decided to pay the extra $30 to stay in The Lazy Cow backpackers. I'm glad we did, becuse this stop was particularly comfortable, like staying in a friend's home. The fire was roaring all evening, and the friendly owner made us banana and chocolate muffins and bought popcorn. We put a film on from the large collection of DVDs on the shelf. There were only 4 other guests staying at this hostel, and it was very homely.

The highway followed this scenic turquoise river

The next stop was Hamner Springs, the "adventure town" of the Canterbury region. Despite being July, this town to me felt Christmassy. There was a chill in the air, and wooden chalet like architecture made up the town's buildings. Much like Rotorua, they also had natural hot pools here, and other activities such as rafting, bungy jumping and quad biking. Joe and I considered some of these options, but as the river was only a grade 2, we decided we would wait for our adrenaline fix further along our journey.

For our next night, we braved the cold, cooked a delicious beef stew and stayed at a campsite just outside Christchurch. We were warm in our sleeping bags, but the air was cold even in the van. it was -2 degrees outside, and the tips of our noses were hard to warm up. We woke in the morning feeling surprisingly comfortable, but all the van windows had iced over - and I mean the inside!

We headed north to Kaikoura, as the route was blocked from the other direction. Kaikoura is a town on the east coast that is best for whale watching all year round, and also home to fur seals and the rare Hector's dolphins. We booked a whale watching boat tour at the information centre, and then took a walk round the coast to see the fur seals, or as we like to call them, "floops".

They were everywhere!

So many of them asleep on the rocks, and even in the car park. Joe almost stepped on one that had managed to fall asleep in a crack in the rocks.

Hmm... I wanted to walk there!

Sleepy floop

Wakey floop!

I'm not dead! Don't step on me!

Couple of floops

Our night here was a lot warmer, and it helped that the caravan park had a hot tub overlooking the snowy mountains.

The next morning, we awoke and headed to the "whaleway station" to board the boat for our tour. The tour duration was roughly 2 hours spent on the water, and during this time we saw fur seals, dusky dolphins, albatrosses and... a whale! A massive sperm whale! He appeared to be sleeping, and stayed on the surface for about 20 minutes, allowing the boat to get about 20 metres from it. Every couple of minutes it would blow air through it's blow hole. And eventually, after a nice snooze, it moved off, diving down and giving us a brief glimpse of that beautiful tail.

Whale spouting

The hump of it's back

Just a glimpse of tail before it goes back down (seal in the distance!)

Sperm whales grow on average to around 15 metres (50ft) and weigh 40,000kg. That's roughly the size of a double decker bus! And this one, as told by our knowledgeable crew, was a well known local male measuring roughly that size.

It was beyond awesome to see this amazing creature up close in the wild, and made the trip to Kaikoura well worthwhile.

Beautiful Kaikoura

Now we're heading back down towards Christchurch and look forward to our next adventure.