The Catlins

We left the motel (nice place but the coffee hadn't been replaced from yesterday so a coffee shop was a priority( and headed for the station as it is renowned as a spectacular building. We parked up outside (a dollar for an hour, imagine that outside a station in the UK!) and took a few pictures, it was an impressive building, only used today for the tourist train that goes up into the hills outside Dunedin. Next stop a coffee shop across the road. Did a great bacon buttie and poached egss fo Ed - I got his toast when he had eaten the eggs. Tash eventually settled on a cream cheese bagel - when it came there was more cream cheese than bagel which she thought was great.

We had spotted the Cadbury factory signs opposite the station so walked around the corner to the shop and bought a few souvenirs and some Jaffas, which turned out to be a little like dark chocolate orange smarties, but round rather than oval.

Back to the car and off to Tunnel Beach. The walk down was longer than I had expected with the signs saying 1 hour round trip. It was steep and Ed got worried he wouldn't be able to climb back up so about half way down after taking a few photos we turned around and headed back to the car/ Back onto the State Highway and we headed for Kaka Point via Balclutha. We crossed the Clutha river at Balclutha - this was the other end of the river we had jet boated on in Wanaka.

Kaka Point was a small seaside town, with a nice golden sandy beach. We got some food in the pub opposite the beach and then played in the waves for a bit before heading to Nugget Point Lighthouse.

The Lighthouse car park was about 9km down a gravelled road. From the car park there were two lookouts, a clifftop one and the Lighthouse itself, 150m and 900m away. The first gave great views down to the sea and rocks way below. We then walked off to the lighthouse. It was a proper path and had only gentle slopes (though still enough to make Ed complain on the way back!) The views were spectacular and the nuggets like a larger more chunky version of the Needles on the Isle of Wight. A rainbow formed off to sea and we tried to capture it in our pictures of the nuggets, not sure how well it worked. The weather was once again great with us and as we were on the sheltered side of the rocks in the sun it was very warm (we learned folks in the UK had got there heating on today!).

We walked back and drove towards Owaka, turing off for Cannibal Bay, a haunt of sea lions sometimes (called Cannibal Bay because human remains were found there years ago).

The beach was deserted and again had great flat golden sands. No sea lions to Tash's relief, they were probably up in the dunes we learned later. More running from waves ensued, with Sam illegally blocking Ed at one point, causing wet feet and trousers!

We had driven through a shower on the gravel road to the beach but it cleared up when we got there and once again the sun came out, a lovely location.

It was now about 4.30 so we went to our b and b, Catlin's retreat. We were met by our very friendly host, with a roaring fire going in the guest lounge. We chatted about where we had been and could go tomorrow then tried to find somewhere to eat - both restaurants in town were closed Monday and Tuesday and the pub was not recommended so we went to the Foursquare for pizzas and oven chips which Robbie kindly cooked for us. We passed Teapoland on the way, a man's garden with all sorts of Teapots in it. Took a couple of photos and put $2 in the pot (Robbie was not impressed as the guy is a sponger on benefits apparently!)

There was beer and wine in the guest fridge, special soap and chocolates in the bedrooms. A really nice place. Through the evening we chatted with Robbie about his time farming, shearing etc. Turns out he knows Fleur quite well (NZ really is like a small village with everyone seeming to know everyone!)

We set breakfast fro 8.30 and retired about 10.30 - a late night for us but very enjoyable.Read more