Catlins -Southern most point.

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The Catlins is an area on the south coast of the south island of New Zealand. The southern most point of the south island, some beautiful forests and waterfalls and farms and things.
I should be writing about the Catlins there are lots of things that we should be talking about.

Laura was going the same way (again) so I hitched a ride... well I didn't really have to ask - got used to the idea of having a chauffeur at this point. Hitching was going pretty well.

So in the two days we spent in the Catlins I:

Saw seals - there was quite a large one on the beach - went close to get a photograph and got barked at - jumped back and got a photo of the sand instead.

Collected paua shells, beautiful shells with mother of pearl inside, reflecting all the colours of the rainbow.

Saw many many waterfalls - too many, got waterfall apathy after about the tenth. Driving what's next - a waterfall, out of car. Oh ahh. Um it looks just like the last one. Back to car.

Stood at Slope point is the southern most point of the south island. The rugged a windswept point affected all the trees, making them withered and gnarled, all bent inland away from the prevailing winds that must be really strong in the winter.

Visited a fossilised forest, rocks that looked exactly like wood, millions of years old, from the Jurassic (I think) one of the best examples in the world. Saw a really nasty dead eel, with maggots crawling from its mouth and putrid gills.

Watched Hectors dolphins - the smallest and rarest in the world - surfing in the waves at curio bay. My photos of the dolphins didn't really capture very much detail.

Watched yellow eyed penguins return from a difficult days feeding in the cold southern ocean, bounce there way to the little patches of scrub in which they rear their young.

Went to nugget point and saw kelp whales. Or whale kelp ... or to be honest just big patches of kelp that I had over enthusiastically hoped were whales... felt stupid. But the elephant seals down on the at the base of the cliff were real.

Went into the Cathederal Caves and listened to some fantastic echos.

Well I got from the most Northern to the most Southern part of mainland New Zealand - something I can't say about my own country...

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Photos

A Waterfall
Can't remember which one!