21st July Water Falls

From Invercargill we drive the scenic route through the Catlins via a number of spots.

Waipapa Point – we searched for sea lions, found a paupa shell for Maddy on the beach, checked out the lighthouse and Geoff played in the rock pools.

 

Slope Point – the most southerly point on the South Island. A 20 min walk across form land that we didn’t quite make!

Curio Bay – Fossilised trees from the Jurrasic period that can be accessed at low tide.

We kept driving and stopped at Florence Hill Lookout.

Then waterfalls galore in the podocarp forests. first Matai falls and Horseshoe Falls

Then onto Purakaunui falls which turns up a lot on New Zealand calendars.

From here we drove through the bush and onto our last stop for the day – Milburn Limeworks and the whale fossils.

Good view but the best fossils had been taken to other museums leaving only a few on display at the top of the hill (under cover of course).

 

Then onto Dunedin and a Chinese takeaway for tea at our final stopover.

20th July On the Road to Invercargill

Geoff didn’t think I could make it onto (and off) the top bunk. What sort of a challenge is that?

 

we left at 9am to visit the Kiwi’s, much to Maddison’s disgust about how early it was. The Kiwis are nocturnal and were being fed at 10 am so we wandered around the rest of the park first and the went into their special house to watch them. We were treated to  a display of affection ! but couldn’t take any photos due to their sensitivity to light.

from here we decided to drive directly to Invercargill rather than going via Te Anu. We drove all the way to Bluff and Stirling Point (the Land’s End of New Zealand). On the way we dropped into the Maritime Museum – another excellent museum.

There were rock pools for Geoff to look in and a light house. We could also see Stewart Island but didn’t fancy a trip there as the weather wasn’t at it’s best.

Back in Invercargill we stopped at the Noodle Canteen for a late lunch and wandered down the main street looking at the architecture – which was amazing

Then onto the Comfort Inn which lived up to it’s name with a hot pool and a PaknSave just down the road.

19th July Queenstown part II

before we finally reached our destination KFC in Queenstown where the local sides are mash with gravy and a bean salad.

after some refreshments we wandered the streets and went on a gondola ride up the side of the mountain before finding a supermarket for supplies and retiring to our room for the night.

19th July Queenstown part I

Today was the start of our Scenic Tour around the southern most part of the island. We started about 10 am and travelled across New Zealand to Queenstown in a 4 and a half hour journey, stopping along the way for photos of course!

On our travels we passed a dam.

an historic building

several lakes

lots of mountains with snow

the vineyard country . . .

a gold mine

Roaring Meg (not the retail park in Stevenage but a small hydro-electric plant)