What a GREAT first weekend of traveling! We drove down from Alexandra to the southeastern coastlines of New Zealand and followed the Catlins Scenic Route around the southern tip of the country. We spent the night in a hostel and carried on Sunday morning towards the southern part of the Fiordland National Park. After basically covering the whole southern coastline, we traveled back up through Queenstown before returning to Alexandra.
I have never seen such diverse topography! Every 30kms, the scenery changes drastically & I’m always in awe. There were several points where we’d look to the right and see the greenest hills/mtns with sheep pastures, and then we’d look to the left and see the prettiest water I’ve ever seen! *Neither words or pictures could ever explain/capture how pretty this place really is..even with overcast skies!
Here are some of the highlights from this weekend’s traveling & stops:
I have never seen such diverse topography! Every 30kms, the scenery changes drastically & I’m always in awe. There were several points where we’d look to the right and see the greenest hills/mtns with sheep pastures, and then we’d look to the left and see the prettiest water I’ve ever seen! *Neither words or pictures could ever explain/capture how pretty this place really is..even with overcast skies!
Here are some of the highlights from this weekend’s traveling & stops:
Traveling/Driving
- After driving over many curvy-mountainside-roads with steep hills, I think we’re getting used to the whole driving on the left side of the road gig! *Although, we all agree that it’s a whole lot scarier being a passenger..haha
- Remember that time they had guard-rails?? Oh wait...
- We spent quite a few hours in the car, so we brought out the music and had a little jam session! (I mean, if we’re gonna live together for 8 weeks, we’re going to get to know each other really well, haha)… “Shake It Off”
- After seeing cows in the same pin as sheep, Alex H asked, “What would happen if a cow mated with a sheep?” Me: “Well..you’d get a Bull Sheep!” (Ah.Ha.Haaa..Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. I’ll be here for 8 wks…..oh goodness, lol)
- Also, public toilet stations come in handy ;)
The Catlins
Kaka Point
- This was our first stop and our first viewing of the NZ Pacific!
- The rocky shore was so cool, and we saw this seaweed-ish looking stuff that felt like rubber!
- The water was freezing! But someone’s dog, Rusty, didn’t think anything of it
Nugget Point (*My favorite place thus far)
- This stop had a 900km mountainside path out to a lighthouse where we could see the ‘Nuggets’ (Huge boulders out off the coastline)
- The panoramic views of this little peninsula were AMAZING! Blue-green waters, white rocky ledges sticking out from the bright, green, grassy hills..ahhhh J
- We also met some elderly folks who said that their relatives used to run the lighthouse..so neat!
- *THERE ARE NO WORDS OR PICTURES TO EXPLAIN IT!
Owaka
- We stopped through the town of Owaka to grab a wee bit to eat at the Catlins’ Café. Ironically, we all got burgers..haha, silly Americans! (*Hold the mayo & beets!)
- We met a guy and gal from Canada who have been traveling around the North & South islands for 6 weeks. It was nice chatting with them
Purakaunui Falls
- These falls were placed in beautiful rainforest-like setting! Spooner climbed up the falls after an adventurous elderly man..looked cool but scary!
Lake Wilkie
- This was a little lake that had a cute boardwalk to walk over.
- My favorite part about this spot was finding a legit swinging vine along the path! I felt like Tarzan,Lol!
Niagra Falls, NZ
- Some guy had been to the North American Niagra Falls and came back and named this tiny little waterfall after it (humorously).
- *We found a beam that went over the flowing water to other rocks. Of course I enjoyed that!
Slope Point
- This is the most southern point of NZ’s South Island
- There was a cool sign that showed how far we were from the Equator and South Pole
- It’s crazy to think that we were looking out towards Antarctica!
- It was great watching the waves crash up against the ledges
- I also noticed what looked like a man’s face in the side of the cliff!
- Beautiful sights!
Curio Bay
- Unfortunately, we did not see any seals or penguins while we were here, but it was still amazing! The rocky coast and surroundings were well worth the stop!
Sparky’s Hostel in Invercargill
- So, none of us had ever stayed in a hostel before..haha. We were up for the adventure!
- It actually was not bad a t all, and Sparky was very nice! He loved talking about cars. He had an old Model A that was from Michigan that he showed us.
- The room we stayed in had 3 sets of bunkbeds. Luckily, we were the only 3 that night.
- There was a hot tub, but let’s just say we did NOT get in it..little sketchy
- Sparky had a world map that had pins on it from everyone who had stayed there. I was the only one so far originally from Georgia, Spooner was the only one from Iowa, and Alex H was the only one from Illinois. I thought that the map was a cool idea!
Sunday-After a great night’s sleep at Sparky’s, we got up and hit the road again for some more great stops.
Suspended Bridge
Suspended Bridge
- We found an old suspended bridge that we walked out on. We could feel the bridge sway every now and then..eek
Clifden Caves
- These caves were so cool! In a really random location, there was a cliff entrance at the bottom of a green hill. It was pitch black in there! Without our phones, we couldn’t see a thing! We went in a good ways until the ceiling got really low. Then, we turned back!
Te Anau
- Te Anau was a city in the South Fiordland National Park. There was a lake with a long trail called the Kepler Track.
- The whole track takes about 7 hours to walk around, so we did the one-hour route through the rain forest.
- It was so pretty and neat to think about how we were walking through a NZ rain forest!
- The greenery was amazing and the trees were so tall. I found one tree that looked like it had eyes and a mouth, so of course I called it my ENT friend (LOTR).
After Te Anau, we traveled back up through Queenstown and stopped to look in a few shops. I enjoy that town a lot. It’s very touristy, but I like it! Not gonna lie, the public toilets there were SWEET! They were big and had a button (similar to one on an elevator) that locked/unlocked the door, haha! After Queenstown, we headed back to Alexandra where we went to the school for some late night wifi! (It’s Labour Day today [Monday], so we don’t have school!) What a grand weekend it’s been! I can’t wait to see what the other weekend excursions have in store for us! :)