We drove from Te Anau to the Catlins along the Southern Scenic Route, which is aptly named.  We passed by sheep and cattle ranches, agricultural farms, and rolling hills to land  by the cliffs on the coast.  The Catlins is a special place. There are fantastic lookout points along the main road and on the coast many of the beaches are filled with fur seals and sea lions. There is even a ‘seal crossing’ sign on the highway.

View from Highway Overlook

Curio Bay was our first stop. There were no seals at this site, instead one could walk along rocks with fossils embedded in them and petrified wood on the ground and in the strata on the cliffs. It was fascinating to see how the wood was pressed down over millennia.

Curio Bay

There are a number of short hikes to waterfalls not too far from the coast.  We took two, one to Purakaunui Falls, which is reached through a temperate rainforest walk. It hadn’t rained in at least a week, so the Falls weren’t as spectacular as they would have been with more water coming down, but the setting amid the rainforest is stunning.  The easy walk to the Falls takes less than 10 minutes. 

The walk to McLean Falls is slightly longer, about 20 minutes and it too is through a magnificently dense rainforest filled with birdsongs that I had never heard before.  McLean Falls is dramatic; it roars down the cliff to a pool and then cascades down a series of slopes. There was no lack of water here.

Both waterfalls are definitely worth visiting on any trip to the Catlins. The rainforest walks are, to me at least, even more interesting than the waterfalls themselves.

The last stop in the Catlins was at Nugget Point.  Before we got there, Paul saw a lone sea lion on the beach from the car. We pulled over and watched as a young mother with a probably around 10-year-old son kept getting closer to the rather large dark brown beast. He turned toward them, hissed and spit, and acted as if he were going to attack. They smartly backed off and he just stared at them, almost daring them to attempt coming closer. The general rule here is to keep at least 20 meters from the sea lions and seals and 50 from the penguins. Sometimes when walking along the beach when the tide comes in that isn’t quite possible, but in this case the two were simply foolish.

There is a lighthouse at Nugget Point/Tokata with a view over rock islands that jut out of the water in front and to the side of the Point. Fur Seal pups were playing in a rock pool far below the path to the lighthouse.

There are a couple of pups in the photo, although they are hard to make out.

The bay by Kaka Point sometimes has penguins, but we didn’t see any.

From the Catlins, we made our way up the Otago coastline to Dunedin. In the evening, we drove out to the Albatross and Penguin Center on Otago Peninsula, but the penguin tours were sold out.  We did see a number of albatrosses flying around as we made our way down the rather steep and windy hill at sunset.

Sandfly Beach

The next morning, we went to the Dunedin Saturday Farmer’s Market, which is next to the Victorian styled Railway Station. There were musicians at both ends of the sets of stalls making for a very festive grocery shopping experience. After coffee and an apple cherry tart from one of the local bakers, it was off to Sandfly Beach to see the wildlife there.  This beach is not named for the sandflies that attack everyone at Milford Sound, but for the way the sand flies with the wind.  We were lucky to have a clear warm sunny day with very little wind. The fur seals seemed to enjoy the weather as well, as they were lined up lying along the beach looking like long garden slugs until they actually moved. A few of the younger pups still had their silver fur coats, but most were dark brown.  This was confusing because the larger heavier animals looked to me more like the sea lions we had previously seen and the smaller slighter ones the fur seals, but the sign on the beach said that this was a fur seal colony. I’m still not sure, but whatever they were both the heavier ones and the smaller ones were fun to watch. I’m developing an attachment to seals on this trip as they sometimes act like puppies and like my dog, Nori, with her friends, Enzo and Hutch. They play as if they were mad at each other, but it is just playing and then they sort of kiss and make up. It is hysterically funny to watch.

From Sandfly Bay we headed further north to Shag Point where there were more fur seals resting and a few playing. The views from the Point were, as almost always along this coast, amazing.

We ended the day in Oamaru, where we finally saw a penguin. In fact, we saw three yellow-eyed penguins on Bushy Beach. There are only 8-10 male penguins left in this colony and we were told that we were incredibly lucky to see one, as the naturalist we spoke with hadn’t seen any for a few days, and then we saw three! The photos, naturally, didn’t come out clearly as they were too far away, but they were there. 

The penguin in near the bottom on the right hand side of the middle

From Bushy Beach we drove down to the Harbor in the hopes of seeing a Blue Penguin even though we had been warned that they weren’t around at the moment.  We didn’t see any, but we saw what we mistakenly thought were penguins on a blocked off wharf.  It turns out they were Shag birds & not penguins although they look like them.

The day was topped off with a dinner visit at the local Brewery complete with live music. As it was Saturday night, it seemed that all of Oamaru had gathered there. We were impressed with the town, the views, the wildlife, and the Sunday Farmers’ Market, where local artisans were selling their wares along with the fruit, vegetable, and bakers’ vendors.  Here too, musicians helped create a lively atmosphere for those meandering through.

Oamaru was the end of our southern journey on the South Island.  It was now on to the Canterbury Plains, after a brief detour to the Waitaki Valley and Duntroon to see some Maori rock art, the Elephant Rocks, and the 20 million year old whale fossil at the place where Aslan’s Camp was filmed for “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”.

Waitaki Valley

Elephant Rocks

Aslan’s Camp/Whale Fossil Site

This rock art requires some imagination.

Purakaunaui Falls walk

Shag Point

The Southern Coast has rainforests, rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, sea lions, fur seals, penguins and more birds than can be imagined. It is a magical place.