New Zealand - Scenic Southern Route and West Catlins


We drove from Te Anau, looping down through the southern end of the South Island on what is called the Southern Scenic Route. It certainly was scenic, and we ended up in a beautiful region known as The Catlins. Lightly populated and less travelled than it should be, it is an area full of coast cliffs, inviting beaches, temperate rain forests, waterfalls, and lots of wildlife. The latter includes penguins, who after feeding out at sea all day only come back onto shore after sunset, which at this latitude isn’t until about 9:30pm. The nesting colony we visited at Curio Bay are protected from us camera-wielding tourists, who are required to stay at least 100 meters away. Good for penguins; bad for photography.



New Zealand: 5 million people, 28 million sheep.


View from McCracken's Rest



Cozy Nook (That's really what this little cove is called).


Lighthouse at Waipapa Point in The Catlins


Waipapa Point
(photo by Deborah)


Seaweed at Waipapa Point


Seals at Waipapa Point


Curio Bay


Yellow-Eyed Penguin (from a long way away)


Interesting seaweed at Curio Bay


More interesting seaweed at Curio Bay
(photo by Deborah)


Petrified forest at Curio Bay as seen at low tide.
(photo by Deborah)





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caribbean Cruise

Image
Even before embarking on our Panama Canal cruise, Deborah and I looked ahead to its conclusion and expressed our reluctance to hurry back to the dreary winter weather of Olympia.  To remedy this we rather decadently booked another cruise that was to leave from Fort Lauderdale just two days after our Panama Canal cruise was to end. We spent the two days in Fort Lauderdale between cruises doing laundry, visiting friends, and catching up on computer tasks thanks to our Airbnb’s Wi-Fi.  Our second voyage was a 7 night Caribbean cruise with stops in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Key West, Florida; before returning to Fort Lauderdale. Both of our cruises were on Holland America Line (also same as for our Alaska cruise last year), which has a reputation for a somewhat older clientele. The Caribbean cruisers were a bit younger than the Panama Canal ones, but actually seemed in worse shape. Not sure I’ve ever seen that ma...
Read more

Next Stop: Everywhere

Image
It’s been nearly nine years since we started travelling for long periods – up to six months at a time – not just to escape the gloomy winters of Western Washington, but to see what it felt like to really live in, not just visit, another place. Australia was the first, then Fiji, Europe, Mexico, Japan and Hawaii. We did a lot of house sitting and work exchange to moderate the cost and expand the experience.  These trips only deepened our love of travel and whetted our appetites for experiencing new places. But the trip to Hawaii ended with us a purchasing a lot on the Big Island and then returning the following winter to build a house. Designing it ourselves, acting as our own contractor and doing much of the work ourselves, that project stretched to nearly two years. We loved our house and our small community in North Kohala, and made many good friends there. But we always knew our Hawaii stay would not be long term – partly because it is expensive, partly because of the inevita...
Read more

Townsville - Anderson Park

Image
Anderson Park is the largest of Townsville’s botanical gardens at 25 hectares (62 acres). It features a conservatory, a pond, several themed gardens, and a collection of huge rain trees. We spent a very pleasant morning wandering around admiring the flora and fauna of this beautiful park. A grove of date palms. Bamboo Blue-faced Honeyeater Rain Trees Muscovy Duck Fig Tree Banyan starting to take over another tree. Palm Tree Lily Pond Damselfly on a lily pad
Read more