Haast Pass

It was New Year's Eve and we were off to Fox Glacier. We made the mistake of making a stop in Wanaka to pick up some maps and coffees. Wanaka on New Year's is a crazy place. Lots of fun if you're winding up for a big night, not so much if you're trying to do anything else. We finally got away from crazy town heading north between Lake Wanaka (below) and Lake Hawea.

 Leaving Lake Wanaka behind us at the start of Haast Pass, the grassy farmlands made way for dense rainforest similar to what we'd become accustomed to in The Catlins. The further we ventured into the mountains the heavier the rain became. The valley seemed to be leaking water everywhere and in torrents. The named waterfalls we absolutely gushing. We stopped briefly at Fantail Falls before the biting insects drove us straight back to the car.

Further downstream Thunder Creek Falls looked to be at full capacity and Thunder Creek itself was just down right dangerous.

The weather wasn't much help for the run down to Haast where we had lunch. We considered tracking south to Jackson Bay but with the rain setting in we decided it wasn't worth it and it was potentially dangerous with flooding and mud slides. The run through Haast Pass had made us nervous. Instead we set off north toward our final destination, Fox Glacier.

 

It didn't rain the whole time and even saw the sun on occasion including (and fortunately) when we were at Knight's Point Lookout (above & below). The forests on the West Coast were even more impressive than Coastal Otago. The Southern Alps squeeze the water out of any clouds that try to cross the coast, allowing the rainforest to flourish.

Not far up the road from Knights Point the rain slammed the coast. Driving was extremely difficult with visibility down to about ten metres. We made it to Fox Glacier in one piece but only just. The clouds were blocking any view of the mountain peaks that tower over the town so we settled into our nice motel and came up with a plan for the next day or so hoping the weather would cut us a break.

Dunedin and Cromwell

We were only in Dunedin overnight but it was plenty of time to have a look around the city sights. The morning we set off for Central Otago we went back to the Railway station to look at the architecture this time. It's a beautiful building both inside & out.

This time we literally did have the place to ourselves.

The interior of the station is as interesting as the exterior with tiles everywhere & some beautiful stained glass windows.

Many of the buildings in the CBD are of a similar style to the railway station. The dark local stone mixed with the whitestone from Oamaru has created some striking looking buildings.

 We then set off for Cromwell in the fruit growing area of central Otago. We had to track south before heading inland. It was the third time we'd covered that 50km stretch of road since the initial journey to The Catlins. We tracked through the hills for an hour as the brilliant coastal green we'd become accustomed to gradually faded. We found ourselves in the dry highlands that have ideal conditions for fruit growing. By the time we arrived in Cromwell, the skies were grey and the wind was howling.

Cromwell was always only going to be an overnight stop because our first preference, Wanaka is a madhouse over the Christmas/New Year period and finding accommodation is near impossible. As it turned out, the Cromwell holiday house we had for the night was luxurious and comfortable for us to wait out the poor weather for the afternoon and evening.

We did visit the Old Cromwell Town historic precinct. The buildings were moved when Cromwell was flooded by the dam.

After some troubles with getting hot water in The Catlins and some issues with the hotel in Dunedin, it was nice to have a nice place with nice comfortable beds, a nice warm shower (with water pressure) and even a bath. We were able to recharge for what would be a tough following day.

Dunedin & the Otago Peninsular

We packed the cars after breakfast and made tracks for Dunedin. It was a bit sad to be leaving this wild but beautiful place.

Once in Dunedin, we stopped off at the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street. The sign says so it must be true, but I'm not buying it for a second. Those from my home patch in Brisbane will probably agree that either Camp Street or Gower Street in Toowong are way steeper than this one.

Kerri, Julie & Jeanette thought it would be a good idea to walk to the top of the street.

 

 After lunch we headed to the Dunedin railway station because Julie had a bus to catch back to Christchurch. She had places to be and people to see and sadly wouldn't be coming with us or the rest of the adventure.

 

When we arrived, we had the place more or less to ourselves.

Soon after Harry's excitement escalated. Initially it was just a lone diesel idling at the station.

Then it was a freight s train being shunted past the us.

Before we knew it the station was inundated with people. Soon after, the Taieri Gorge tourist train arrived.

Then the Taieri Gorge Motor Rail appeared from the other direction. Harry didn't know which way to look or what to say.

Harry and I even got a chance to talk to Kevin, the train driver. The look on his face below shows his excitement and happiness. Harry talked about the trains at Dunedin railway station for a long time to come.

 

We said our final good-byes to Julie and went to the hotel to check in. We decided to drive out to the Otago Peninsular. It was long enough for Harry to get in a a recharge sleep and by the time we arrived he was ready to go again.

Immediately we were confronted with the smell of the bird rookery. There were seagulls everywhere in the air and on the land along with cormorants being blown around in the howling wind.

 
We had a bit of a look at the visitor centre and decided against taking the ridiculously expensive walking tour around the rookery. It turned out to be the right choice because the albatross that we'd come to see wouldn't have been near were we would have walked anyway. From the car park, we could see the giant birds with their 3m wing spans gliding over our heads. There was a viewing platform overlooking the open ocean where the wind was howling up the cliffs giving the sea birds the free lift they were looking for.

The albatross were floating on top of the ocean, drifting in until they were close enough to the peninsular to pick up the wind assistance before taking off. They circled just above the ocean with their wings outstretched until the wind quite suddenly drove them up to our level before they shot past us doing mach 3 (or seemingly).

Before we know it these graceful birds were soaring far above us en-route to the Southern Ocean.

This was yet another wonderful encounter with the Otago wildlife.

The next day we'd be on the move again.

The Catlins - Waterfalls, Bays & Nugget Point

After the cold wet weather of the previous afternoon, we woke the next morning to clear skies. We'd concentrated on the area west of the Whistling Frog. Today we'd explore the Eastern parts up as far as Nugget point.

Our first stop was Lake Wilkie (below). It wasn't the most spectacular lake we've seen but the walk from the car was very short so it was worth a look.

The road leading East finds the coast at Tautuku Bay. It's a lovely wide bay with a nice sandy beach and a few waves for the surfers.

From the lookout point where the photo above was taken, to the left (east) you can also see a small island just off the coast.

The island has a blowhole that sprays a jet of water in the air every time a decent sized wave pushes past.

The main access road through The Catlins winds both along the coast and inland to avoid all manner of obstacles such as rivers, inlets and ranges. In one of the inland diversions there is a short walk to two waterfalls, Matai Falls (above) and Horseshoe Falls (below). These falls are nowhere near as spectacular as McLean Falls, but well worth a look all the same.

Along a side road that eventually turned to dirt was yet another waterfall, Purakaunui Falls. These falls were a bit more substantial than the pair we'd just seen.

Harry had been a trooper so far. He was very patient on the long drive from Ashburton and was now doing multiple walks with us.

We had lunch at Cannibal Bay (below). The road from Purakaunui Falls was all dirt and we were glad to take a break from the dust.

Apparently elephant seals beach themselves here from time to time but I suspect they're in Antarctica in summer. Harry couldn't help himself and felt the need to splash around in the little waves butt naked! Despite being summer, the water was still icy!

We set off again and fortunately the dirt road ended reasonably quickly. After a drive a fairly lengthy drive we arrived at Nugget Point. We left Harry asleep in the car with his Grandad in charge, and walked along the track to the lighthouse.

Far below the path on two ledges there were sea lion colonies with lots of pups making a ruckus. There was even a pup training pool on one of the ledges out of harms way.

Closer to the lighthouse we caught a look at the other side of the peninsular where there's an array of mini islands surrounded by kelp forests that the sea lions seem to love.

There's another penguin colony that nests in one of the nearby bays but this time we came up empty. It was time to make tracks back to the house for dinner.

With Harry tucked up in bed, Julie and I went back to the lookout we'd been to earlier in the day to take some sunset photos. The sun goes down late in the day that far south so it wasn't until about 9.30pm that we were able to take some photos with decent colour in the sky and without the sun dominating the lens.

We would have to say goodbye to the Catlins as we were off to Dunedin the next morning. What a surprisingly wonderful place that is nowhere near as famous as other popular New Zealand tourist icons.

The Catlins - McLean Falls, Curio Bay, Slope Point.

This was our home away from home for three nights, The Whistling Frog Cafe in the heart of the Catlins. Our cabin that we thought would be a shoe box turned out to be plenty big enough.

Right on the doorstep of the Whistling Frog is McLean Falls.The trail to the falls meanders through dense rainforest. The first thing we noticed about The Catlins was the lush green. Believe it or not, the water falls below is not McLean Falls, rather a smaller waterfall downstream.

This is McLean Falls. Magnificent!

This is my artistic shot. It took a bit of scrabbling/climbing up slippery rock faces to get to the one I wanted.

Having checked the tide times we packed lunch and essentially drove across the road to the Cathedral Caves. We ate our lunches on the beach with this setting (below).

Cathedral Caves is only accessible at low tide. The waves crashing into the caves on a high tide have created the cave over time.

Once you get to the back of the cave it can be very dark. You have to watch your feet with random rocks littering the cave floor to kick your toes on.

We picked up Pat back the the Frog and set off toward Invercargill. We were looking for wildlife for the most part. Curio Bay is supposedly frequented by dolphins but rudely they weren't there, nor at Porpoise Bay (should have know with a name like that). Curio Bay has a touch of the Cliffs of Moher (Ireland) about it (including the weather).

We got going again to the most Southern point on the South Island, Slope Point.

The South coast is a harsh place as you can see from the wind blown trees. It was windy and cold when we were there in the middle of summer so I can only imagine what it's like in winter.

We didn't hang around Slope Point too long and opted to go back to Curio Bay to watch the Yellow Eyed Penguins return to the beach during the late afternoon.

 

There are only a few thousand of these the rarest of all penguins. There are only eight pairs living in the bay so we were pretty lucky to see four individuals.

What a day! We were pretty excited to find out what tomorrow would bring.