Southern NZ

Andrea, myself, and the backwards driving Nissan Sunny went on an adventure this past weekend. Picked up the rental car and a few more groceries and headed south along the banks of Lake Wakatipu on highway 6. Beautiful and mountainous, all you want to do is stop nearly every km to take a picture, but alas we had a lot to see in the next few days. A lot of driving too. Day one was sunny and amazing as we were both on a high of just getting out of town and seeing an entirely new world. We drove along mountains and lakes for a while, then the landscape turned to rolling hills of sheep, cattle, deer, and elk farms. It was gorgeous, even from the reverse cockpit of the Sunny. We wanted to see as much as we could, thus we drove through the town of Invercargill just to pop through and see what it was like. Well we stopped at some Irish pub downtown to have a celebratory beer and then got lost a tiny bit on our way to Curio Bay.
Soon we were driving on a gravel road through farms and could see the ocean off in the distance. When we arrived at the campground, neither of us could believe where we were staying. It was directly on the coast and breathtaking. Staked our ground for the night, filled a glass of wine and walked around to get to know our new surroundings... beaches, cloud cover, waves, rock cliffs, fur seals, mice, and many other camper vans. Not knowing our exact plans for the rest of the trip, we made dinner and discussed options. Wanted to play some cribbage, but forgot the game back in Queenstown. Relaxed and fell asleep in the tent. I love sleeping outside.


Day two, still cloudy when we woke to some fisherman who parked about 20 feet from our tent while they prepared. Ate some breakfast consisting of a breakfast bar and fruit, then headed in to the office to get some info. Learned of a nearby ancient coastal forest preserved by a massive mudslide. Checked it out in hope to see some penguins, but only another fur seal lazily resting. Returned to our campsite and decided on a whim to pick up camp and continue along the southern scenic highway in hopes to see more country and discover more. McLean Falls was the next stop, a short hike through jungle like environment and we arrived at the falls.

Back to the car and the next stop was the Cathedral Caves on the coast. A small $5 fee because we apparently traveled on some private land and another short 10 minute hike to the beach. Low and behold the sun came out during our hike through the coastal forest. We popped out on the beach and it was glorious. I had an instinct to run around, thus I ran and in no particular direction. We walked a few hundred meters to the cave to find it in a towering cliff. It was huge! Huge it may have been, but not very long. The cave was basically a large horseshoe, in one way, make a turn, and out the other way. Amazing nonetheless. On the way back I could not pass up the opportunity to break out the feet and walk around in the water. The sand was amazing and the water cool, but not freezing.

Back to the car for some more driving. By now I am pretty much used to using the blinker and seatbelt on my right side instead of the left. At first, I was always flicking the wipers instead of the turning signal and reaching to the center console for my seatbelt. This driving was fun too. the highways around here are nothing like interstates, only two lane curvy roads. Made me wish I were on my moto. After a few km's there was a lookout we could not pass up. Florence Hill Lookout viewing over Tautuku Beach:

Beginning to wonder where we were going to camp and seeing that we were getting low on petrol, we drove with a campsite in mind. Found one spot that was recommended, but after seeing that our campsite was the size of an average persons bedroom (and basically right on top of the nieghboors) we decided to pack up and head to another recommendation. Kaka Point was our last option. 20 km north and we came across the small town and loved it. Extensive beach right in town, a small pub that overlooked the beach, boogie boarders on the waves, and a campsite just up the hill. We settled into our campsite, which charged per person and had a large kitchen, showers, and laundry. Not an ideal camping area, but we figured we were only going to sleep here, and that we did. Immediately packed our dinner and headed back to the little pub for a celebratory beer. Speights, yum! Then we headed back on the road to check out Nugget Point. It was a place to view the yellow-eyed penguins coming in for the evening to feed their juveniles. We were both ecstatic to see some penguins in their habitat! That we did, but from afar. We read and learned that the penguins are very sensitive to disturbances. Thus, the beach was closed and we had to view them from about 200 yards. Also at Nugget Point was the Nugget Point lighthouse. We had planned on making our dinner at the lighthouse, but the wind was relentless and powerful. We took in the cloudy views, watched some fur seals playing on the beach 250 ft. below and turned around as we were getting quite hungry.

On the way back to our campsite we found a table and chairs made out of large wire spools in the middle of nowhere. Beautiful beach views avalaible, so we decided to stop and cook. Thai chicken curry for dinner. Back on the road, and considered another night cap of Speights at the pub, but it was quite busy and we had some wine and chocolate back at the campsite.

Day 3, woke up to some light rain, packed up and headed back on the road towards Balclutha to get some much needed fuel. The morning was a bit rainy and cloudy, but as we made our way on our inland route the sun started to show its face. Its amazing how powerful the sun is here. We were making our way through the fruitlands of Roxborough, Alexandra, and Cromwell and this work of art was displayed at the gates of Cromwell.

We drove by countless fruit orchards all selling their bounty of delicious fruits. Neither one of us had cash and were thus hesitant to stop, but we looked at each other and we knew immediately that if we did not stop and get fruit we would be missing out. Pulled over at the next stand to see all the delicious fruits... numerous cherries, peaches of all sorts, berries galore, juices, and even freshly made real fruit ice cream. The smells were unforgettable as well. Both of us were making mental lists of what we wanted to munch on as we perused the rather large fruit stall (they called them fruit stalls instead of fruit stands). We were sure they would take a credit card, but I wanted to make sure first. This was the moment of utter despair and the feelings of rejection. Our dreams of eating fresh fruit while we finished the last legs of our trip were crushed. Alas we left the stand with visions of plums and white peaches danced in our heads. We drove on and tried another stall, nope. Another, nope. Another, nope, then finally gave up hope.

As we were leaving Cromwell we began driving through the Kawarau Gorge and saw some amazing views. This photo was early on as we drove along the dammed Kawarau River.

The water was the definition of turquoise. Also along this gorge was THE worlds first & most famous bungy site on the Kawarau River. We had to stop and check out the adrenaline seeking people jump from an old bridge to fall 43 m (142 ft) with a giant rubber band strapped to their ankles. It was crazy. I was never tempted to bungy while here, but after watching this a few times and seeing that this place to jump was breathtaking, I mentally considered doing it in the future. Andrea did the same, so much that she tried to trick me into doing it on the spot while we were there. As we were walking out, she said "I think I'm going to do it now." I could not believe her, but I still was not sold on the whole deal. My heart definitely skipped a beat, but then she said no. She definitely had me going, but I was not about to pull the trigger, just yet. hmmm.....

We were now coming to the end of our journey as Queenstown was the next town. Neither of us wanted to end the journey just yet so we sidetracked to the small town of Arrowtown, a neighboring town to Queenstown. Andrea had already been here with some girlfriends to watch a movie and knew how quaint and 'old school' the town was. She wanted to spend more time exploring the small town. The buildings are all very old and have not changed much. We manged to spend a few hours walking around and exploring the options. Popped into a corner pub called Tap to grab a brew with some locals. Walked around a bit more and then went back to the Tap to get some pizza that sounded amazing from reading the menu the first visit. Sure enough it was delicious! Left the town and drove about 15 more minutes back to Queenstown. We were exhausted, whew... what a trip! We got to see many differing landscapes and heaps of southern New Zealand. Our eyes were opened up to this country and its beauty.