It is a perfect morning, bright and sunny with a cool breeze. Birds are singing all around us. We are off to explore. First stop, Cathedral caves. The caves are only accessible during low tide so off we go, on the trail by 9:30. Down and down we go winding our way through lush dense forest the air filled with the smell of wet earth occasionally brightened by some sweet-smelling flower. IT is tropical-like and beautiful. Final switchbacks bring us to brilliant sun dancing on rolling waves on a broad beautiful beach. No signs but telltale footprints lead us to the cliffs just down the beach. 10,000s of years of wave action found a weakness at fractures and has carved through rock formed over 100 million years ago. The result is two tunnels of about 100 meters each angled toward each other and ultimately joined deep in the cliff. Nature is pretty darned impressive.
More great works of nature, waterfalls. It rains a lot here and we check out waterfalls both great and small. Some impressive…some redunculous… Little Niagara. Some explorer guy had seen the US/Canadian Niagara and dubbed this little rock overflow as its namesake. Its real fame here, it is a prime spot for whitebait..flashback, they are not for me!
Lake Wilkie is dark reflective pool ringed by dense forest. It is a quiet spot amid virgin timber, magnificent old growth trees. They are mostly different species than at home but just as wonderous to see. Bird song fills the mature forest and these unfamiliar fellows seem even illusive in the dense growth as the ones at home.
The southernmost point on the NZ mainland, Slope point. It is a short walk across rolling sheep meadow to a simple sign but oh, the view! Rugged ocean cliffs and the roaring crashing sea are mesmerizing. A view of seemingly endless Southern Ocean is interrupted only by faint outlines through the mist of the mountains on Steward Island.
It’s been a full day. We head for Curio Bay campground and settle into an ocean front site with the waves crashing just below us. I can feel the pounding! Right here in camp we have our very own yellow penguin colony. Well, it’s just two nesting pairs but still – there are only 300 nesting pairs on the entire mainland so 2 is good. Sadly, they are not real successful here. Only one of four that hatched has made it so far and it is about to fledge. He/She came out to show off today. I still think it is so weird to see them waddling in and out of the shrubs..penguins belong on ice or in the water, right? Well not all penguins and not all the time. Mom didn’t show up before the sand flies and chill evening air ran us in. Glad to see the little fellow though.
At low tide a petrified forest appears. It formed millions of years ago when floods carried ash from volcanoes and buried the entire forest as it stood. Truthfully, this is one of those “trust me” things. They don’t really look like trees to me.
We end our day gazing out over our private little section of the southern sea, sipping tea paired with Tim Tams. Good night.

We drop onto the coastal loop of the southern scenic route. The ever present rolling green hills stretch out before us then are abruptly replaced by a dramatic rugged coast. All along there are opportunities to stop and admire the rugged land. Kaka Point is rugged and wild. Nugget Point lighthouse is stark white against the blues sky and ocean. Surfers swarm the beach at Purakounui Bay. It is tempting to stay and watch but its only 1PM so we better move on a bit further. Waterfall trails call our names so we check out Purakaunui and Matai before settling in at the Dept of Conservation campground at Papatowai, our home for night five. They are pretty informal with these campgrounds. It is just a self-pay station at a big grassy area and you find a spot that suits. They do have a tenters’ kitchen and passable restrooms – nonpotable water though. Birds are all around us, especially the noisy native Tui. It took us an hour to get a picture of the silly fellow. A quick walk out to the estuary beach and we have our first encounter with the infamous sand flies. Ooh, they are as mean as reviews say they are.

We are heading south from Dunedin. Rolling hills painted all hues of green stretch out as far as we can see. Sheep are everywhere. Big ones and small ones shorn and in full fluffy wool coats.
Night four we spend in a friendly family run park in Balclutha. The hosts are great and very helpful and all the shared space is wonderful. Kent grills burgers on their six-burner gas grill and doing dishes in a full kitchen is a great change. That pack folks in pretty tight but the vibe is good. It is a comfy place for the night.

The geological story is cool, sediment accumulated over thousands of years and solidified into these nearly perfect spheres that were buried by retreating seas and later exposed by those same waters. Native legend tells of canoes lost at sea and these boulders are their cargo of gourds that was scattered to the beaches. Impressive to see no matter the origin story one chooses. I say at least one of them looks like a pint-sized Death Star! Some like eggs that have broken with the yolks frozen in time as they pour out of the shell.

We stroll the streets and wharf. Oamaru is a Victorian era deep water shipping port. The waterfront streets still lined with grand limestone warehouses that now house all manner of shop and studio. In contrast, a splash of steam punk contributes bizarre and grand steel sculptures and kinetic art. There is a steam punk museum – from the outside I’d say a good stop if you have the time. Work-weary fishing boats are moored along the wharf. It is home to the Whitestone cheese factory. I couldn’t pass up their Vintage Blue Cheese, second in the world in 2019. Stinky but absolutely delicious.
I get a little too brave ordering lunch!
We are on the hunt for fish ‘n chips since we are in a fishing town and end up at The Star and Garter a small local place with a friendly vibe which does indeed have fish and chips on the menu. Kent goes for the Blue Cod and I can’t pass up the chalkboard special I see in the window, whitebait fritters. Well let me just say, it is what it sounds like. Little tiny whole fish stirred into a light eggy batter and fried. Edible but not something I would do again. The pumpkin soup I had for a starter was fantastic.

Full of enthusiasm, and still suffering from jet lag, we arrive early to pick up our Campervan. It will not be ready early and as a matter of fact we are patching a hole in the roof so it may be about 45 minutes late. But, you can take one of our cars and go do your grocery shopping if you would like. We arrived back after the shopping to find the van ready to go. But after a short drive through town we found the power supply on the dash for the navigation device was not working. This we found near downtown Christchurch. We remedied the situation by plugging the navigation device into the plug in the back of the van which meant Lynn was sitting in the back calling out driving instructions while I tried to manage the wrong side of the road thing. Not going to work long term so we traveled back to Jucy and they jumped right on it pushing us to the head of the line for repairs. With a new fuse installed we were back on the road behind schedule. The first leg of the journey was through suburbs and farmland so we made up the time, though we were forced to find camp late and set up in the dark.

It is 15 degrees and the wind is howling as it whips across my face. My checks feel tingly and I bury my hands deeper into my pockets. Flags above the igloo snap in the wind. We are in a cold chamber walking on a blanket of snow and in direct line of huge fans that create the gale affect. What a great way to get a bit of a feel of what it is like to be out in the weather in the Antarctic.
Little blue and white-flipper penguins glide through the water snatching up tasty morsels. We are here for feeding time for a dozen or so Ambassador Penguins. They are rescues that have been injured beyond return to the wild so they remain here to entertain and educate visitors. What amazing swimmers.
A 4D movie! In this case the 4th dimension is seal sneezes, snowflakes, wave spray, gull poop, and the thud of iceberg impacting ship hull. We take a short expedition among the icebergs and Antarctic wildlife. Pretty cool.
Theses boys don’t work too hard. A Husky rescue works out of this same space. We meet three adorable members of 59 who hang out here. They hope to train teams; but, as in nearly all rescues they are looking for volunteers to get that program rolling. They are beautiful just chilling. I love the clear blue eyes.
Why an Antarctic Center here in Christchurch New Zealand? Supply and support convoys for all manner of Antarctic scientific expeditions set off from here. South American is actually closer but politics and dollars being what they are, multi-country collaborations have been set up through here. Huge C130s outfitted with skies sit out on the tarmac just waiting for their next mission. The center preserves artifacts from early exploration and has an interesting display on the geology and life on the continent. Some displays could use an update but it is well worth the stop. Even if you just disembarked from a red eye!