The Bluff and the Catlins

With a new found sense of adventure after a good night's sleep, we loaded the car once more and headed southward to one of the more southerly points in New Zealand. Just as Mary-Ellen and I had been to the most northerly point a few months earlier with my family, we were off to reach the other extent of New Zealand, if you don't count Stuart Island. Going through the town of Bluff, we started by heading to the lookout at the top of mountain whose shadow housed the sleepy commercial village. The weather was spitting mostly but to our surprise, managed to cooperate with our activities most of the day. The view was amazing, seeing the harbours and beaches in 360 degrees, unimpeded by buildings, trees, or other mountains. Rotund clouds rolled in the heavy winds, visibly shedding their heavy load of water all over the landscape. To the south, there was little sign of Stuart Island in the rain but you could see gigantic container ships being tossed around like little toys in the swells.

One of the more amusing parts of this leg of the journey, and a product of not having the shelter of those impeding trees, mountains, and buildings was the complete exposure to the wind. And what a wind it was, gusting across the mountain top in such ferocity that we found it difficult to stay in one place. Between the gusts we ran through the lightly spitting rain to try and get our pictures and take in the views, laughing and trying to stay in one place whenever a gust tried to knock us over.

With the girls hair completely blown out of place, we headed back down the mountain and to the bluff signpost to get our picture. Luckily here, we were sheltered by the mountain from the intense southern winds that were blowing. The sign was nestled in a little cove, where rampant growth of kelp on the rocky shores swept gently with the lapping waves. This was our furthest point south that any of us had been, closer to the south pole than we likely would be for the foreseeable future. We took our customary picture just as the rain started to pick up.

Before we left though, we used the local restrooms which were situated next to this oversized statue of an anchor chain. I went on to take some pictures of the numerous gull species that frequented the rocks, and returned to rather profuse laughter at what was to likely be the highlight of this stop. The "Jetsons" bathroom which I was told to use, was almost completely automated, complete with voice acknowledgement of activities such as closing the door, flushing, and washing your hands. It even played music while you were using the facilities.

After we had our fun with the talking toilet, we packed into the car, and headed back to Invercargill to try and find a magnet. This venture was unfortunately folly, as we found no specific magnets to bluff. Instead we wandered around town enjoying the unique architecture of some of the older buildings, including the famous water tower.

Slightly disappointed at the lack of magnets, we stopped at the grocer for some provisions and journeyed on into the Catlins once more to continue our exploration of this fantastic strip of coastline. Our first stop was lunch at the same little rest stop, although the inclement weather forced us to enjoy our sandwiches from the car this time. The weather however, cleared as we rolled over mountains enjoying the long windswept beaches. We took the opportunity to try and walk one of these beaches near Papatowai, however we didn't stay too long given the sandblasting we were receiving.

Onward we went, saying a brief goodbye to the coast in order to venture into the lush rainforest. We trekked through the dripping canopy of green which was vibrant in the now sunny sky above us admiring the fungus and ferns on our way to Purakanui Falls.

I can't be certain if it was just because it had rained recently, but the forest definitely seemed wetter and had more species of moss than any of the other forests in New Zealand we had visited. Regardless, the copious water amalgamated into probably the most elegant and magical waterfall we had seen since coming to this island nation. The numerous cascades of water sprinkled in every angle among the greenery. This tiny glade was almost as if it was out of some fantasy, and you half expected some mystical creature to come bounding or flying by. This was by far my favorite waterfall I had ever encountered. 

We stayed to admire these waters for some time, playing with camera settings to slow down the water and create a greater veiled effect. Time however was also against us as we knew we wanted to get to Surat Bay during low tide, so we eventually wandered back up the slippery track to the car.

We first checked in to our accommodation for the night which gave us a great sighting of several Royal Spoonbills foraging in the shallow waters of the incoming tide. After the delightful introduction in Pounawea to the local area by our host, we wandered over to Surat Bay to see if we could spot a Sea Lion.

The tide was well on it's way in at this point, reducing our chances of seeing anything, but we were not to be disappointed. Basking in the last rays of the days sun was an enormous sea lion. Hardly disturbed by our presence, we wandered about 10 metres away from the great beast in order to try and get a good look at it. He rolled around on the sand for a while until he sat up once more and yawned before returning to the sea.

With another sighting crossed off our list, we meandered along the road back to the village to get ourselves some of the "famous" blue cod fish and chips. In the cabin we sat around the table dipping fries and fish into piles of Ketchup. Definitely good, but the fish had an unusual texture, sort of like chicken, but with the definite fish taste. Eating fudge and chocolate, we reminisced on the multitude of sights we had seen that day, checked the weather, and did some repacking before heading off to bed once again.