Blogs from Catlins, Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

It's an early wake up call as we make our way slowly to Invercargill and visit the Catlins along the way. I actually did not know how to title this post as we were technically following the Southern Coastal Route as well. We had a leaflet with a great map describing all the places we could stop and obviously we had to pick and choose as we only had a day to do it in. At least we knew we were not rushing to Invercargill as we were told there was not much to do their and it really was just a pit stop to rest our weary heads. We stopped at kaka point with beautiful views of the beach before making our way to visit the lighthouse at Nugget Point. There were fantastic views to ... read more

A few weekends ago I went to the Catlins national park with my friends Clara and Jenny. We drove to Invercargill on Friday and then spent saturday and sunday driving around the catlins and getting out to do short walks, see look out points, and see waterfalls. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend with those girls. We all really enjoyed ourselves and got an entire hostel to ourselves on saturday night which was really nice. The Catlins is so beautiful. I guess everybody will have to get used to me saying this about everywhere I go, but New Zealand is such a beautiful place as you will see in the pictures. :o)... read more

INVERCARGILL / CATLINS / ALEXANDRA Ja mit Burt Munro und seiner Scout gehen die Impressionen von Invercargill zu Ende. Doch noch nicht ganz..., bevor ich mich von Invercargill östlich in Richtung Catlins bewege, besuche ich noch kurz die Oreti Beach, im Südwesten von Invercargill. Dort nähmlich war die Teststrecke von Burt's Indian. Auch in der Verfilmung mit Anthony Hopkins wurde dort die Wette mit den Jungs von der Motorrad Gang, also das Strandrennen, abgedreht. Beim Anblick dieser Infotafel hier allerdings, insbesondere der Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung, muss ich schon etwas schmunzeln... Wie auch immer. An dieser Beach zu stehen ist für einen echten Burt Munro Fan ein wahrlich bewegender Moment. Mal schauen ob ich zu so nem Fan werde wenn ich dann die Biografie gelesen habe... Während Fredy immer noch auf Stewart Island im Schlamm und Sumpf waatet, bin ... read more

We took the road-less-traveled down to the Catlins, where we headed out on a short hike to see the “nuggets.” At the point of an old lighthouse there exist some rock formations jutting out of the sea that, with a highly imaginative mind, resemble gold nuggets. Next, we headed to a petrified forest from the Jurassic Period set on the shores of a sunny beach where we unexpectedly saw a penguin. After taking a few photos of our unexpected siting, we headed on down the road to the Cathedral Caves and made a hurried dash down the bluff and across the beach to the limestone caves. We finished off our busy day with a lamb dinner at a sheep farmer’s restaurant.... read more