The wilderness of the Catlins

We left city life in Dunedin and swapped it for the wilderness of the Catlins Coast, the southeastern corner of the South Island thats still very remote and wildernessy, last last Saturday the 25th July. We found out how remote and wildernessy it actually was when we passed through villages of just a few houses and shops and when we realised our mobile phones were out of action for the entire 3 days it took us to travel though, though that wasn't really a big issue for me since I rarely get any text messages or phone calls these days *hint hint*!

Our 3 day tour of the Catlins Coast took us past some beautiful coastal scenery and we stopped along the way at many beaches and other places of interest. Tunnel Beach was one of our first stops and probably one of my favourites, a secluded beach that was accessed through a tunnel (a very apt, if not so imaginative name). We also stopped at Slope point, the most southerly point of the South Island and the Manuka Gorge Tunnel where we saw glow worms! Another one of my favourite stops was at the Petrified Forest by Curio Bay, where part of a forest was fossilised, certainly something you don't see everyday!

The Catlins Coast is known for its rare wildlife and we did get to see some more Yellow eyed Penguins (I'm beginning to think they're not as rare as people make out, we've now seen loads of them!) as well as a fair few Fur Seals. No Sea Lions though, much to our dismay, though we thought we saw one but it turned out to be a rather shapely rock. Maybe we'll get to see some on the North Island...

We made it to Invercargill last Monday and after 3 days of living in Charlie while we travelled through the Catlins, it was certainly good to get back to town life (can't quite call Invercargill a city), hot showers and warm beds!