The Catlins Coastal Drive

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A long drive ahead today! Everyone (including the lonely planet) has raved about how beautiful the scenic costal drive is through the Catlins, so we thought we would give it a go.

However to our suprise we found the drive wasn't actually that scenic at all - it was mostly through the mountains but we had seen alot pretty driving down to Milfound Sounds and also on the West Coast when we were driving on the bendy narrow roads on the cliff edges.

Our plan was to stop along the way somewhere and stay, but as none of the little villages interested us (I know we sound ignorant, but they were similar to places we had been and we want new experiences!) we decided to go for it and drive all the way up to a city called Dunedin (which is half way up the island - about a 10 hour drive from Milford).

Before Dunedin we did stop at a couple of interesting places along the way, including a beach for lunch (it was freezing but we were determined to brave it out) and then the only real place of interest on the Catlins Road - Nugget Point, which is famous for being home to some rare Penguins.
At a place called Roaring Bay (just before Nugget point) we went to the Penguin look out spot and saw three of the Yellow Eyed Penguins! Unfortunatley your not allowed on the beach as they are a protected species and as the lookout is quite a way I've not managed to get any good pictures. But there were 3 penguins that were there when we arrived and it was funny to watch them waddle about on the shore.
And yes - IT IS QUITE COLD HERE! But not too bad as you don't need a winter jacket or anything, it's just the wind (and water!) thats cold.

After that we drove up the mountain rocky road to Nugget Point which is a nesting site for the NZ fur seals and sea lions, the're bigger than the other ones we've seen and again quite good to see nature at its best.

Then once we'd had our fill of nature watching we headed for the final 2 hour drive to Dunedin.

Apparently Dunedin is gaelic for "Edinburgh' and is meant to be full of Scottish Heritage. As we arrived quite late we didn't have time to try and explore any of the city to we decided to stay here for 2 nights, checked into a Hostel called 'On The Top Backpackers' (only a year old so really new) cooked a delicous meal of supernoodles with a fried egg on top (our culnary skills are coming on a treat!) and then hit the hay.

City exploring tomorrow!

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Photos

An old bridge!
On the interesting Catlin drive

View from Roaring Bay
The penguins are there - honestly!

The penguins we did see
Sorry, my zoom isn't that good!