Southland

We spent two days travelling across the bottom of South Island on the Southern Scenic Route. As we left Fiordland behind the mountains gave way to gentle rolling countryside with expansive views over green pastures to the sea beyond.  The population drifted away from this area after the gold rush and the decline of the logging industry and now sheep, dairy or occasionally deer farming are the

main activities. We were in, and out of, Invercargill (pop 60,000) in 10 minutes, there being nothing of interest to detain us, and then we entered a beautiful area known as The Catlins.  We stopped at Slope Point, the most southerly point on South Island; Curio Bay, home to the rarest penguin in the world and the site of a petrified forest and Porpoise Bay, home to the rare Hector's Dolphin, the smallest dolphin in the world.

Our accommodation for the night was a farmstay B&B.  We sat in the garden and feasted on blueberry scones washed down with a glass of wine while the sand-flies feasted on us!

Petrified tree

This was my birthday and I know how to celebrate in style! From a mobile caravan we bought blue cod and chips wrapped in newspaper, served by the most heavily tattooed lady you have ever seen, then sat on the beach with a bottle of wine.  We watched a solitary sea lion defending his territory from inquisitive humans, then walked around the point to watch the Hoiho yellow eyed penguins return from a day spent fishing to feed their chicks.

The weather the following morning was beautiful so we decided to walk along the beach at Porpoise Bay.  We had been told that the local school-children often swam with the dolphins, but dismissed the

idea as unlikely.  Amazingly within seconds we spotted 5 Hector's dolphins surfing the breaking waves within yards of the beach.  This was an opportunity too good to miss. I waded in to join them and was surrounded by playful dolphins. For as long as I whistled they kept coming back to investigate.  This was a truly magical experience.

The Catlins continued to reveal their beauty to us.  McKay's Falls; Purakanui Falls and the amazing Cathedral Caves. The latter are only accessible two hours either side of low tide and the pristine beach besides them is washed clean every 12 hours.  It was with great reluctance that we finally left this area to complete our drive to Dunedin.