Southern Scenic Coast & Catlins

From St Clair Golf Club where everyone had been so hospitable and where Len had smuggled me into the men's showers - they had 3 showers and the ladies had none! - we headed south down the scenic coastal route. It was a fantastically hot, sunny day so we stopped for a swim and bodysurf at busy little Brighton Beach, a sandy bay between the rocks, unlike the stony English Brighton beach. There were lots of families there enjoying the few days of real summer and the lifeguards were busy trying to keep everyone between the flags and not drifting towards the rocks with the rip.

Brighton Beach - still wet from the swim.

It was a great drive down the coastal route where we ended up continuing on to a gravel road past Taieri Mouth to a free camping spot by a little river called Akatore Creek. It was in the middle of nowhere but occasionally we would see a large truck or farm vehicle cross over the bridge upriver. It was such a quiet, peaceful night compared with our previous nights stop at the Dunedin Railway Station!
The next day (Wednesday) we drove a little inland, stopping for a bus coffee at Lake Waihola which is theoretically freshwater but does have some salt content because it is also tidal, then through Balclutha and on to the Southern Scenic route through the Catlins. This is a wild stretch of coastline stretching from Kaka Point in the North to Fortrose in the South with breathtaking scenery - rain forests, bush walks, stunning coastal scenery and plentiful wildlife such as yellow-eyed penguins, the rare Hectors dolphins, fur seals, elephant seals, sea lions and a unique blend of birdlife.
We stopped for the night at the Kaka Point Camp Ground and, once we had eaten dinner, we drove down to Nugget Point where there is a walk to a lovely stone lighthouse which was built in 1869 and another little walk to a hide above Roaring Bay where you can watch the yelloweyed penguins come ashore at dusk. It was raining by now but we could see the penguins well through Len's slightly inadequate binoculars and also saw some huge elephant seals, sea lions, Hectors dolphins and some Royal Spoonbills on the way to the lighthouse. So it was a productive outing!

Nugget Point lighthouse.

Although it kept raining a little through the night we woke to another beautiful day today. A few threatening rainclouds which appeared when I hung out the washing early soon evaporated and we had a nice 30 minute loop bush walk before leaving camp to drive via the Purakaunui Falls to the isolated DOC camp at Tawanui where we plan to do at least 6 hours of the 10 hour return Catlins River Walk tomorrow.

Purakaunui Falls

The Falls, which we have visited before, were again stunningly beautiful and glistening with the sunlight coming through the native beech and podocarp forest. It cascades 20 metres over 3 main tiers and there were lots of visitors walking in to view them.