The Catlins, Dunedin and the shaky Church

---

The Catlins is most southern and least populated region of New Zealand. There are beautiful viewpoints and great wildlife to be seen here, which is why most cars driving driving here seem to be campervans 😉 The campsite we went to in Curio Bay was one of the cheapest we'd visited all month. This was very apparent in the facilities, but the location was simply amazing! On one side it had a beach/bay where a colony of hector dolphins lived and a ten minute walk the other way brought you to the breeding spot of a couple of yellow eyed penguin families. When we went for a little walk we met a lady (lady? Woman) that worked for the Department of Conservation (DOC). She was currently guarding a penguin that was hurt and had gotten a bit off course; he was supposed to live in the fjords on the west coast. She told us the yellow eyed penguins lived on the other side and were bound to come out of the water after six. So around 6:30pm we went over there, and waited for a bit without any seeing any action. The DOC woman was there again, and she told us that the night before the penguins hadn't come out until 9:30! So we decided to go back to the van and try again after dinner. We got back just in time to see a couple of penguins clumsily climbing up the rocks to their nest. It was such an adorable sight. Not only because penguins are just really cute, but also because the male seemed to try and find the easiest way for his female to climb up the rock, through trial and error.

The next morning we drove to one of the top attractions in the area: The Cathedral Caves. These massive caves were shaped by erosion and can only be visited a couple of hours a day at low tide. Because it was full moon the water was even lower than usual, so we got to explore some more caves that usually can't be visited 😊 Back at the campsite me and my mom went to the beach. After my mom had left, I saw that some dolphins had arrived in the bay. Dolphins are very curious animals and sometimes they come up to you when you are swimming. So I went into the water and swam out a bit to see if it would come closer. Some other people had already gone in, but because the water was extremely cold they'd come out again after five minutes. I stayed in quite a bit longer, but then my finger- and toenails started to turn blue so I had to go back. Just as I had decided to go back, a dolphin had apparently decided to come closer. Cause as I was swimming back, there was a dolphin to my left, literally on the same wave length! These dolphins like surfing on waves and this was taking the same wave in as me! It was still a good five meters away from me, but I thought it was pretty cool 😊

The next morning we saw some more dolphins in the bay while we were brushing our teeth. But it was time to head to our next destination: Dunedin. Along the way we stopped at Nugget Point, another viewing point with a light house and a group of fur seals. But this time the fur seals were actually there! There was a pretty big group of them playing around in the water and catching fish. The water was super clear, so we got a really good look at them 😊 After that we drove on to our campsite in Dunedin and from there we walked into town. It was a bit of a walk to get to the city centre, but once we were there it wasn't hard to find our destination: The Speight's Brewery! Here we bought some merch, filled out water bottles with the filtered water they use for the beer (very nice water indeed) and then went to their Ale House for a tasting and dinner.

The next day the weather wasn't great, but we didn't mind because we had a great bad weather activity planned: Shopping. My dad still hadn't sufficiently stocked up on rugby shirts and we hadn't really found any good gifts for the siblings who were stuck on the other side of the world, and for the girls that were catsitting. After that we needed a little pit stop at the brewery again, before walking back to the campsite armed with umbrellas, a poncho and Hells Pizza.

The next morning it was already time go to our last destination: Christchurch. On our way there we made two stops at the Purakaurie waterfalls and the Moerakie Boulders. The waterfall was a bit disappointing to be honest :p But the boulders were pretty cool. Some of them were as big as two meters and there were a couple of broken ones so you could see inside. And I found a really big sea shell, so I was quite happy 😊 Once we got to the campsite, we spend some time repacking all the bags and cleaning the campervan. After dinner we went to the tv room, where we watched the first game of the Super Rugby season.

The next day was my parents' last day. We visited a farmers market and then set out to find the white chair memorial. Five years ago there was a big earthquake in Christchurch, and there was a square where they'd put a white chair down for every person that had died because of it. Really beautiful. After that they dropped me off at my hostel, and then went to the airport to bring the van back and start their long journey back home.

The aftermath of the earthquake is still very much visible in Christchurch. There is barely any city centre and there is lots of construction everywhere. There's a huge amount of street art here and a pretty cool mall that is made of colorful containers and food trucks. So they're really trying to make this city livable again, but what's really missing is night life. There are very few bars in town, and even on a Saturday night there's simply nothing happening. Luckily there was a bar showing rugby near the hostel. So I went there with an Irish guy and a kiwi guy and we soon found out we were by far the youngest there :p But the game was good and the beer cheap, so we had a good time.

The next day the weather was really nice, so me and the kiwi guy decided to go to the beach. It was quite windy there and just a bit to cold to swim, but it was a pretty nice beach nevertheless 😊 We had lunch there and then drove back to the hostel. Around five I walked into the city to see some street art and to visit that container mall. But by the time I got there, most stores had already closed. After dinner we watched some tv and we all went to bed quite early. In the middle of the night I woke up cause it felt like my bed was shaking. Turns out it was an earthquake of 4.3! Not massive, but I definitely felt it.

The next day I went to that mall again. There were quite a lot of stores, half of them way out of my price range and the other half souvenir stores :p But I did find a really nice dress with a major discount (from $119 to $30!) so I was pretty happy when I walked back to the hostel. The weather was a lot colder than the day before, so I spend the rest of my day inside reading my book and watching Orange is the new black.

The next day was already my last day New Zealand! So I packed, finished my book and after lunch, at a cute Mexican restaurant, I walked to the bus station.

In my/our month here I've seen beautiful nature, great landscapes and amazing animals. This country is like no other, anything is possible here. From trekking to surfing, from glaciers to beaches and from quietly watching the starry skies to pub crawls through vibrant cities. We've met many young German kids on a gap year, but also lots of retired couples cruising around in a campervan. New Zealand has something for everyone and it's a country everybody should visit at least once in they're life.

---