The Catlins!! Such a beautiful area of New Zealand that is maybe not as well known but is absolutely stunning! Dan and I spent the last week exploring The Catlins which is the area of the Southern Coast stretching from Invercargill to Barclutha. This area includes has a wide variety of scenery including waterfalls, impressive coastline, caves created by the ocean, amazing bush walks, and super rare wildlife including the yellow-eyed penguin (we saw 3!) and the New Zealand sea lion (we saw them twice!).
One of my goals of this trip is accomplished, which was to see a penguin in the wild!! I do not have any good pictures because we were far away at every encounter but we saw them three different times! They are so adorable and super funny to watch on shore. They waddle, jump, and stumble quite often.
We also were lucky enough to catch 6 sea lions at sunrise who were on their way to sea from Purakaurui Bay where we camped for the night. They were playing with each other running from here to there and then every so often would lay flat and play dead. It is crazy how well they can maneuver on land with no real limbs to work with. We also had a very close encounter with some sea lions near Dunedin yesterday. We were exploring the rocks of the coast looking for our trail when we unexpectedly came across a family resting there. Let's just say they were not happy and Dan experienced first hand the "roar" that gives them the title of a lion. We got out of there fast and no animals (or humans) were harmed.
I also loved the various waterfalls we found in the Catlins. All of them had multiple levels and were spectacular. Waterfalls are still one of my favorite landscapes and a favorite thing to photograph. In one day we went to three different places and experienced 7 different falls! We also did a 4 hour very muddy hike to see the Waipohatu Falls. It is so fun to start out a hike hearing the distant rumble of falls which grew louder and then softer as we maneuvered our way through the forest. Eventually the rumble turned much louder until the rushing water was tumbling down right above us encompassing every sense of our being. Now, we couldn't only hear the falls but we felt the pounding of the water, smelt the fresh mist lingering in the trees and of course saw first hand the mighty strength as the falls surrounded us. There is nothing quite like finally reaching the destination especially when it is waterfalls!
Once we saw everything we wanted in the Catlins we made our way north and further east to the city of Dunedin. This is a fun city with a lot of history, incredible Victorian style old buildings, and nature and wildlife close by! We plan to stay here for about 4 weeks. Dan has found construction work through a temp agency so it will be a nice way for us to replenish the funds and relax in one place for a bit. We have been on the move for the last 2.5 months so it will be a nice change of pace for us. We are hoping to find another helpx that will allow me to work extra to cover accommodation for both of us. We look forward to exploring the city and having a place to call home (for a little while at least).
P.S. Stayed tuned for more pictures of our recent adventures!
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