The Catlins and Dunedin

Good Morning wooly friends

Blog 27 -The Catlins, Curious Bay and Dunedin:

We arrived late at our evening lodge at Waipapa Point Sheep Farm so it was a good start to the new day to see lots of my woolly friends munching away in the surrounding fields.

Our time at Stewart Island was most enjoyable and its off-shore island of Ulva will live in the memory as the place where I spotted my first live kiwi. It was fortunate that Stewart Island is the only place that the Kiwi is active day and night. Having no Predator at all it's free to roam wherever and whenever it wants but it's still rare to see one in the daylight; how lucky was I. Nature dominated our visit there and those remote white sand beaches and clear waters were inspiring.

Today it's a trip through The Catlins and on to Dunedin in the south east where we are staying for two nights.  A chance to catch up with washing clothes and explore the busy port city with a real Scottish heritage. 

The Catlins is an area of sweeping coastlines and pristine rain forests. We might spot a yellow eyed penguin but I doubt we will see any little black and white Hector's Dolphin, one of the smallest and indeed rarest in the world. There is also a fossilised forest dating back 180 million years. Its another exiting day so let's get going on another sunny morning... 

In the earlier centuries it was the Maori who lived and travelled here, attracted by the abundance of seafood and the birdlife in the forests, in particular the large Moa Bird now sadly extinct.. The settlers arrived in the 1830s mostly Whalers and Sealers but after the short lived gold rush era it was saw-milling along with sheep farming that were the sustaining industries. These early settlements relied on shipping and good ports such as Invercargill and Dunedin. It was the busy local ports that brought prosperity and the coastal area flourished until railways came along in the 1920s. The smaller ports suffered, got silted up and very much died until ecotourism and fishing tours brought life back again.

Waipapa Lighthouse

We are taking the coast road, but first a stop at the historic Waipapa Point Lighthouse (gosh we have seen a few of those on our travels). The volatile seas along this Southern coastline caused many shipwrecks and among them was NZ's worst maritime disaster. SS Tararua ran aground at this place in 1881 with 131 lives lost. Many of the bodies could not be taken away and are buried in prepared grave yards on the cliffs around here which can still be visited. Following the tragedy the lighthouse was built. (After the horse bolted etc!)

Spot the Sea Lion

Looking down into the bay from the lighthouse cliff I was sure I saw what I thought was a rock or boulder move in the sand and went to investigate. On closer inspection (but not too close) it turned out to be a basking sea lion sleeping off his last meal on the beach. You can get pretty near to them,  but these magnificent creatures can run a bit so best to keep 

There she is!!

a safe distance just in case this was a grumpy one. 

On our drive we pass close to Slope Point with its windswept trees, which is geographically the most southerly land point in the main island, although it's always Bluff that is recognised with the yellow Stirling Point signpost in the tourist guide. I pictured this signpost in my last blog. The distance in Km's between the North of

Looking out over Slope Point

North Island and the South of South Island is in fact measured by the the distance of State Highway 1 (SH1).  

The southern coast route is at this stretch a dirt track and Nancy is bouncing a bit so we keep the speed down below 20kms (12miles) an hour which is delaying our travel somewhat. We arrive in Curio Bay and spend time exploring the Jurassic era fossil forest. We are fortunate it is low tide and get some really good close up views and pictures of the old trees preserved in the coastal bedrock. Technically called a 'petrified' forest these trees which are similar to the giant Kauri lie embedded in the bay.  This phenomenon is of international geological

Petrified Forest in Curio Bay

significance and is in a roped off area. To stand close by something of that age is something special and as a bonus we spot our first yellow eyed penguin just standing as if quite aware he (or she) is being snapped - quite a show off really but lovely..

Yellow eyed Penguin

We are short on time because of the many miles of unsealed road, not shown as such on our maps, so we had to miss out on many other attractions along this stunning piece of landscape. We needed to get to the famous Nugget Point and we knew that was going to be a slow windy drive up to yet another lighthouse. We stopped for a half hour stroll to Matai and Horseshoe Falls and got a real flavour of the forest that used to stretch right down to the shore.

Horseshoe Falls

The road to Nugget Point Lighthouse

Nugget Point and the famous "Nuggets" were spectacular as was the drive and then walk to get there. The Lighthouse was built in 1869 and again we spotted seals and penguins on the rocks below. The last 900m walk had sheer cliff drops that kept my heart racing. A ten minute walk down from a car park at Roaring Bay there is a well placed 'hide' that gives you access to watch the yellow eyed penguin (Hoiho); again we were lucky and got a few snaps. These are a rare sight with only a few thousand now left because of predators like the stoat, ferret and wild dog who kill the young and steal the eggs. The forest at the coast has declined and so there is nowhere to hide. Should the penguins feet be red, it means they are stressed and literally stuck on the spot, which does not help to escape the killers lurking close by.  They are timid and so friendly that they trust us, that's what

The Nuggets

makes it even sadder that they are on the decline. NZ is trying hard to give them a home. I wish them all success as they are very sweet indeed.
The last stretch from Balclutha to Dunedin was back on SH1 and the traffic build up was noticeable in the evening as locals were returning from work.  We arrived just after 6pm in Dunedin (old Gaelic for Edinburgh, hence the Scottish heritage). We are staying with Tara Duncan, a geography colleague of Jacky's, in her house above the harbour. We are to meet her at the University of Otago Campus and follow her back to her place at Port Chalmers. It was at this port in 1848 that the first permanent Settlers, a boat load of

View from Tara's balcony over the bay

intrepid Scottish settlers landed including the nephew of Robbie Burns. From that moment on this place has had a proud Scottish influence and a fierce pride still evident in the local posters advertising highland games and haggis and bag pipe events..

We eat that evening at an old pub called Carey's Bay Hotel which was built in 1874 from the famous locally quarried bluestone. This stone can actually be seen in Southampton as it was used as ballast in the NZ ships that travelled across the world. The pub and restaurant is in the picturesque Carey's Bay which for over 140 years has been home to fishing boats and has been carefully restored to its former glory days. What a nice meal it was too, and it was back to get some shut eye for a full sightseeing day in the city and surrounding district tomorrow...

Dunedin Railway Station

Another sunny day and a chance to look around the city. The Scottish architectural influence is all around -it's like walking around the Sauchiehall Street area in Glasgow - the Town Hall, the Railway Station, the main square with the Burns statue in front of St Paul's Cathedral all imposing, all shouting out that this is a place the Scots built and called home. These Victorian building are still in use today, a credit to the city's planners and leaders who wanted to keep the history and heritage alive rather than just pull down and start again as many equivalent cities did in the 1960s in the UK. With a mix of cafes, bars and restaurants the city is certainly alive and it does not have those all too familiar skyscrapers of other cities                                                      which you either love or hate.

Peter Snell

In the Railway Station on the top floor there is a 'hall of fame' to famous Kiwi sports winners and personalities.. One Athlete was Peter Snell. In the past fifty years and before African dominance of middle distance running, reputations were dominated by Coe and Ovett and before that by Ibbotson and Pirie. Nobody really remembers that the Gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo was won by a tall skinny Snell who had never ever ran in a 1500m race before. In fact he also won the 800m in Rome and retained that gold in Tokyo.  Now those are some achievements and I am amazed he has been relatively unnoticed outside of his native country.

Steepest street in the world

The steepest street in the world (Baldwin Street at 1:2.86 gradient) was an interesting diversion, even more so because we had been to the world's windiest street in San Francisco earlier in our travels. There is an annual race takes place here called the "Baldwin Street Gut Buster" and I can see why! Talk about leading the high life....

We explored the harbour, port and its surrounding countryside, in particular the beautiful Otago Peninsula which runs alongside the water side and where you can watch the big cruise liners coming in to berth at Port Chalmers on the opposite shoreline. The Peninsula is one of NZ's most renowned ecotourism areas and a chance to see royal albatross, penguins and many species of wading birds. I must say that this whole area is very picturesque with the rugged hills and volcanic landforms and well worth a visit by any traveller to NZ. 

Looking back over Dunedin

There is a castle here called Larnach Castle situated 300 metres above Otago Harbour on the peninsular. It's the only one in NZ
and was built by William Larnach for his first wife in 1871. He was a landowner, Minister of the Crown, Financier and Merchant but he died sitting alone in his Parliament room committing suicide by a single shot to the head. It proves that money, estate, position does not necessarily make you happy. Happiness as a
human trait comes in small doses; love and friendship are my top two - what are yours?….

Larnach Castle overlooking Otago Peninsula

There are lovely gardens here and in the UK this would be a delightful National Trust property. We did not have time for a full visit but it sure is a beauty spot and the road to and from the harbour is very pretty indeed..

Otago University 

Tara took us back to the Gothic style 1880 Otago University. It is NZ's largest and has 25000 Students from all over the world bustling around which certainly adds to the dynamics and vibrancy of this modern city, a far cry from the early Scots who popped off a boat to look for gold and a chance of a new life 170 years earlier.

It was all too quickly the end of our time here and tomorrow we are on the last three legs before we reach Christchurch. We are heading back towards Mount Cook in search of another of the Lord of the Rings locations. We are on our way to Twizel. A long and interesting journey so it's an early night.

Blog 28 to follow - -