A Weekend in the Catlins

The Catlins is a few hours south of Dunedin on the eastern coast of New Zealand.  What's amazing about the Catlins is that it encompasses rural heartland and forests, rugged coastlines, hidden lakes, stunning waterfalls, and much more.  It almost feels like you're walking through a rainforest, but you emerge on the beach.  It's incredible, and we've got the pictures to prove it.

The great mind behind this trip was Michael, one of Vanessa's many friends who have welcomed us into their circle.  He coordinated all of the lodging for the group of 10 of us at the McLean Falls Holiday Park which was absolutely lovely.  You should stay there if you're visiting the Catlins.  Everyone pitched in with food, games, and a perfectly agreeable attitude, and we had a blast!

We drove down after work on Friday night, stopping for fish & chips in Balclutha where the conversation ranged from funny things Kiwis say to other subjects that you don't want to know.  After checking into the holiday park and heading to our appropriate cabins, we went to bed early to prep ourselves for two days of fun.

On Saturday after breakfast, we headed right down the road behind the camp to McLean Falls.  After a 20 minute 'bush' walk (aka through the forest), we emerged at McLean Falls.

 

 

Because the tides were with us this fine day, from McLean Falls we headed south to the petrified forest at Curio Bay.  I thought a petrified forest would be in a forest, but alas, it was not.  The petrified trees, some 180 million years old, are now on the beach and actually underwater at high tide.

Petrified tree trunk

Petrified tree stump

In addition to the petrified trees, Curio Bay had tidal pools, wild life, great wave crashes and...PENGUINS!

 

Penguins hiding from tourists amongst the flax

After Curio Bay, we popped over to the next bay, Porpoise Bay to make a quick stop to see if we could see any dolphins...and we did!  They were too far away for pictures, but thanks to our handy dandy LL Bean binoculars, we were able to see them.  These were Hector's Dolphins, a tiny rare dolphin only found off the coast of New Zealand.

We zoomed back to the holiday park for lunch and basking in the sun, and then headed out to the Cathedral Caves which are only open for 2 hours before and after low tide.  By the time we got there, we only had an hour left, so we were moving fast.  This was the walk through the rainforest to get to the beach spot.

 

 

Cathedral Caves

Todd & Rachel heading into the caves

Group shot!

 

 

 

Naps, reading in the sun, dinner, and games finished out the day.  On Sunday morning, we checked out and north towards home, stopping to do and see lots on the way.  Our first stop was a short bush walk to Lake Wilkie, which was as smooth as glass.

 

From there it was on to Purakaunui Falls via Papatowai and The Lost Gypsy, a bus full of curios and crazy little inventions like this one which brought special memories to the surface for Todd.

he he he

Purakaunui Falls

the falls

a completely hollow tree

Our final stop was the Nugget Point Lighthouse.  There were seals all over the place and the views were stunning.

Eek!  Exposed sections on the way to Nugget Point!

Seals basking in the sun and enjoying the warm rock pools

Apparently that's Dunedin over there.

View from Nugget Point

Look how blue the water is!

Can you see the seals swimming in the pool?

If you're coming to New Zealand and there's time in your schedule, I encourage you to add the Catlins to your itinerary.  A good time was had by all.