There and Back 2005

After the majestic Milford Track we retired back to the town of Te Anau. This place has as its soul purpose catering to those who wish to expolore the Kepler Track, Routbourne Track, Milford Track, and the other smaller tracks around this region of Fiordland. As such, prices we're high, sky high to be exact. We spent close to $30 on laundry after the track and the clothes were not clean. Still, the town wasn't bad, infact it was quite picturesqe. Lake Te Anau set the stage and the back drop were the Murchison Mountains. Kate quite liked it, I was more than eager to leave. And so when the laundry was finally dried and our wallets sufficiently empty, we decided to head on. Should we head North, backtracking it to the resort towns of Queenstown and Wanaka, or head South, virgin territory for us, to the Catlins?

The Catlins it was. This is the southern most region of the South Island and characterized by wind beaten coastlines and ancient inland podocarp forests. In early pre-European times, this area was used by the Maori moa hunters. Moas are an extinct flightless bird that once roamed New Zealand. Some moa were true giants, standing over 10 feet tall but there were also smaller moa close in size to the kiwi.

The road from TA to the Catlins was not too remarkable however upon reaching the Catlins, we were immediately struck by the ruggedness of this land. Southern and Southwesterly winds carry across the Tasman Sea and smack into the coastline here. As a result, the trees are bent in the direction of the prevailing winds. Their windward faces are bare and sand blasted smooth, while the leeward face contains the sparse folliage.

We took the most scenic route which meant at times we were traveling on dirty "unsealed" roads. This made me nervous, could the little Toyota handle the abuse? Thankfully we came out unscathed apart from the odd paint chip and churned stomach. Our stops included, Gem beach, Waipapa Point, Slope Point, Curio Bay and several other places that I don't know the name.

Gem Beach, as the name might imply, was strewn with semi precious stones and precious stones like diamonds, rubies, emerabls, saphires, etc. We filled two bags to the brim before we decided enough was enough. HAHAHAHA, just kidding. It was however a place we're semi-precious stones such as New Zealand jade, called green stone, garnets, and some other cool rocks could be found. Due to the dynamic wave and current action, the sand it continually turned over and as a result the minerals and gems are freshly exposed on a regular basis. We didn't find much of anything but it was still a nice stop.

Next stop was Waipapa Point. The lighthouse here was erected after the NZ's second worse maritime catastrophe in 1884. The ship Tararua, struck the Otara reef just off shore and 131 of the 151 passengers and crew perrished. It was here that we had an intimate encounter with the sea lions and the kelp. Have a look at the pictures. We were able to get very close to these beasts. The sea lion encounter, we realized afterwords, was very special becuase at the other places that the tour guides advertised as "a great place to see seals and sea lions" one could only just make out the black shapes of these beasts with strong binoculars. So we consider ourselves lucky.

Next stop, Slope Point. Its the southerly most point on the South Island and apart from that and some nice cliffs, there isn't much else to see. That is of course unless your lucky enough to spy a yellow eyed penquin, which, sadly, we did not.

A few more stops and then it was time to find accomodations. This wasn't as easy was we'd hoped but at last we found a tiny cabin at a camp ground which suited our needs just fine. And at the price of $20NZ per night ($10 each), a down right bargain. You can see a picture of this hovel in the gallery, its red and Kate is at the door.

After a nights sleep we awoke and headed off for a beach walk with backs only slightly soar. The cabin was so small that only one person could sleep with their body fully extended (Kate) and one person had to scrunch up as if on a couch. The beds were in an L shape and I got the small one.

The beach walk was terrific, we were the only people around and the bird life seemed not to take notice of us. A highlight of our New Zealand trip awaited us just around the second bend in the beach. There, perched on a rock with its back to the wind, was a penguin. A real live, honest to goodness penguin in the wild. It was immediately evident that the bird was either falling apart or molting as evidenced by the large amount of small feathers strewn about down wind.

Unsure of the proper, repectful thing to do we decided that we'd try to get a little close and as soon as the bird showed signs of concern we'd stop and back away. To our great surprise the bird seemed completely unphased by our approached and would only occasionally glance at us before yawning and shutting its little eyes again. We took this as the bird being comfortable with our presense and quitely we snapped a few pictures. What a treasure. Thanks penguin, I hope your plumage comes back in full :)

So, I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff off (like Gold Beach, a beach strewn with nuggets of gold, Beer Beach, kegs everywhere, Free Money Beach and just down from that Free Gourmet Seafood Beach) but I must move on.

Our next port of call was the small city of Invercargill, which the Lonely Planet suggested we skip. I would disagree with their opinion. Althought the city didn't have too much, and again everything closed at 5pm it was a worthwhile stop, even if just to catch your breath.

We stayed at the Tuatara Lodge, an emaculate backpackers and coincidentally we met up with our good friend Tobi who hiked the Milford Track with us. I'm not sure if I've mentioned him yet. Tobi is from Germany and gentleman through and through. He's hiked all over the world and set a blistering pace on the Milford Track. The last day, he even carried two packs. One guy got a severe cramp and Tobi volunteered to carry his pack for the rest of the day. So while the rest of us were miserable at having to lug the 30 pound pack an inch further, here come Tobi, cheerful as ever with two packs strapped to his body.

Well, such a chance encounter in Invercargill called for a celebration and it was decided we'd meet in the lobby at around 7pm and find a place to have some beers. We went to the southern most "Irish Bar" in the world called something O'Shea's or O'Riley's or O'Something. We all had our fare share and the next morning we were a bit groggy.

Now I've really got to wrap it up since the sun is shinning, the surf is up, Kate, Ward and Liz are taking a surf lesson and I've been in the i-cafe for over 2 hours.

Here goes the rest of our New Zealand tour in brief. From Invercargill we headed north to Dunedin. Dunedin is Edinbourgh in Gealic and much of the south of the South Island was settled by Scotish. Dunedin's city center is guarded by a statue of the great Scotish author Robert Burns and the city itself seems quite proud of their Scotish roots. Despite this, I found very little similarity between Dunedin and Edinbourgh. It was a great city though, a college town and our accomodations were top notch. We did the Speights Brewery tour and went to both the Otago museum where we were blown away by the giant moa skeletons, and the art museum. I also saw my first session there and it wasn't half bad.

After 4 days in Dunedin we headed north to Christchurch, stopping only at an agriculture/country fair. It was very interested, and the animals, all primped for the show, were amazing. The winning live stock were paraded around the field, lead by a great pipe band.

Next, Christchurch. This place was dominated by our experience at the Backpackers car market. The other noteworthy experience was the terrific session I played in at O'Sullivans with Brendym Montgomery and Lorcan Bolster. They were two great muscians and I was honored that they welcomed me into the session so warmly. Brendyn has an MA in traditional music from UC Limmerick (I think it was Limmerick) and was a mean flute player.

Our little 2 bedroom flat, with a kitchen, and a tv room, and private bathroom, sorry did I say little? Was all too great and cheap at only $40 per night. If you ever find yourself in Christchurch, I'd recommend the Stonehurst and if your there for a week, ask for the crummy old apartment, its the best deal in New Zealand.

Before Christurch, we went to Kiakora, Kate wrote all about that so all I'll say is it was worth the stop. Stay at the Dolphin Lodge and Connor and Anna will take good care of you, especially if you have wine or Baileys to share.

Phew! Done. No time to proof read so your getting a raw version, my apologies for the misspless and the grose misuse of the English Language but I hope you enjoyed it.