March 12th
After spending a weekend in Dunedin, we decided it was time to continue our adventures in the rest of the country. We wanted to try renting a car to see how driving on the left side of the road would be so we chose the Catlins as our destination, only a couple hours away and a good wee day trip. After much investigating of various car rental companies (the most intriguing being “Rent-a-Dent”), I found a company that would give us a medium-sized car for one day for only $75!
On Saturday morning, Amanda, Leslie, Sarah and I started out early to make our way down to the market before picking up the car. We figured we might as well get fresh fruit and veges (vegetables) at cheaper prices since the market was kind of on the way to where we needed to pick up the car. Emily was supposed to come along with us, but unfortunately she woke up with the stomach flu and, not surprisingly, wasn’t really feeling up to a full day of traveling and exploring. Luckily for us, one of our other friends, Alyssa, had asked to come along at the last minute so we were able to let her know that we had an opening and fill up the car. 
Our next destination was the Cathedral Caves, which can only be reached 2 hours before and after low tide, so we decided to continue on our way down the road. Leslie decided to take a turn at driving, which she regretted a little when she had to start off on the winding gravel roads that led back to the highway from the point. She came through with flying colors, though, and got us to the Caves, about 45 minutes farther south only a wee bit after low tide, plenty of time to explore! After about a 10 minute walk through the woods, we arrived on a huge expanse of beach, from which we could see the enormous caves in the cliffs at the opposite end. We were lucky that it was a beautiful day, with only a few clouds in the sky, perfect for our outdoor adventures! Not really knowing what to expect, except what I’d seen in pictures, I was not prepared for the looming mouth of the cave soaring overhead and then disappearing into semi-darkness near the back before it curved around and came out on the opposite side of the cliff. Fully embracing our tourist sides, we took an excessive amount of pictures doing various poses (jumping, cartwheels, the Ole Lion mascot pose) in the mouths of the caves so that you could only see our outlines in front of the picture perfect ocean before heading back into the twilight underneath the cliffs. It was really cool to be able to walk back into the cliff as it narrowed slightly and then made a U-turn back towards the sunlight outside, with a huge cavern at the back. We could definitely tell why they didn’t allow people down too close to high tide, though. You would not want to be stuck in the back of the cave if a huge (or even a small) wave came in!
After another mini photo-shoot and climbing up some of the rocks outside the caves, it was time to head out so that we would have time to make it to Porpoise Bay, our destination furthest south and the home of the world’s smallest dolphins! Next to the car park above the Bay was a small shop advertising ice cream and since we’d had a rather meager lunch of PB&J we decided to treat ourselves before walking down to the beach. Right as we got down to the water and were about to stick our feet in, Sarah and I simultaneously let out rather high-pitched, undignified squeals and pointed to the same spot in the waves right next to the rocks at one end of the beach. We’d seen what looked remarkably like a very small dolphin jumping towards us out of the waves!! Ahhh! The others were doubtful of our reported sighting, but soon enough Leslie saw another jump in the distance! There turned out to be quite a few playing farther out by the rocks at the end of the beach, it was so incredible! Watching the world’s smallest dolphins playing right off shore, standing on a beach in New Zealand on a beautiful day, and eating Hokey Pokey ice cream…”Is this real life??” I asked Amanda, only partially joking. We both agreed that it would be hard to find much better J
Sarah and I were both anxious to see the dolphins a bit closer and hopefully get some good photos so we decided to do a little adventuring over the rocks to get farther out into the bay where the dolphins were swimming. Unfortunately, by the time we made it out to place we had seen them they were nowhere to be found. However, we discovered some an amazing place to sit and watch as waves crashed against the rocks, creating huge sprays and subsequent miniature waterfalls running down over the rocks and into tide pools. As usual, on the coast, the rocks were covered in tiny mussels which we had to avoid sitting on and the water below was filled with seaweed longer than we were, looking from above like great, black hair swirling in the waves. Although it looked interesting, it certainly had a distinctive odor, shall we say. When we had given up on spotting the elusive dolphins again we climbed our way back to the beach and were rewarded with the sight of a sea lion making its way up from the water! After having read the sign that they can move up to 20 km/hr on land, we were hesitant to get too close, but we snuck up on it as close as we dared (not very) and watched while it flippered up to the grassy knoll above the beach before laying down to rest after all of its exertion.
It was a bit nerve-wracking renting the car and signing the papers, but very exciting to get the keys to a very nice Toyota, ours until Sunday morning! I was the first to drive and remembered to get in on the right side of the car, instead of the left; good first step. Fortunately, the gas and brake pedals were the same, but a difference was that the windshield wipers and turn signal were on opposite sides. Oddly enough, people don’t seem to realize you’re turning if you wipe your windshield at them…drat. The rental company was on a one-way street, so pulling out into traffic for the first time didn’t seem too different, except that I was on the opposite side of the car than normal. My first test was getting onto the main motorway out of town before coming to the relative calm of Highway 1, which would take us south to the Catlins. I was pleased to discover that driving on the left side wasn’t too different from driving on the right, especially once I clued in to the fact that the right lane was now the passing lane and I needed to be aware of how close the left side of the car was to the shoulder, instead of the right.
The great thing about traveling in New Zealand is that it’s not only your destination that is scenic, but everywhere along the way, as well. Our drive took us through rolling hills, pasture upon pasture of sheep, cattle, and the occasional deer farm. Yes, they actually farm red deer here, brought over more than a century ago from Scotland. Coming from the Midwest, where it sometimes seems that the deer are actually preparing to take over, this seems very strange to me. However, this variety does not appear to have realized that they could easily jump the little wire fences enclosing them and escape so for now they are just farmed for venison and are amusing to watch as they scatter every time a car drives past.
After a couple of hours, we reached our first stop: Nugget Point. The guidebooks promised us a lighthouse, seals, and interesting rock formations from the point, plus we were about ready to get out and stretch our legs. It was a short walk from the car park down to the point and, as promised, we were able to see a whole colony of seals playing in a pool on the rocks below us! Upon reaching the lighthouse, we found that it was rather small and surrounded by a huge fence, which detracted from the beauty a bit, but there was a great view of the ocean. There were huge rocks sitting in the water off the point that looked almost like (very hard and rocky) bread that had been sliced by a giant knife. Alyssa is a geology major, so she was able to explain to us that the “slices” were actually the different layers of the rock (what they were specifically I can’t remember…) and that they had fallen off the cliffs and bigger rocks sideways into the sea, enabling us to see all of the layers going vertically, instead of horizontally.
Our next destination was the Cathedral Caves, which can only be reached 2 hours before and after low tide, so we decided to continue on our way down the road. Leslie decided to take a turn at driving, which she regretted a little when she had to start off on the winding gravel roads that led back to the highway from the point. She came through with flying colors, though, and got us to the Caves, about 45 minutes farther south only a wee bit after low tide, plenty of time to explore! After about a 10 minute walk through the woods, we arrived on a huge expanse of beach, from which we could see the enormous caves in the cliffs at the opposite end. We were lucky that it was a beautiful day, with only a few clouds in the sky, perfect for our outdoor adventures! Not really knowing what to expect, except what I’d seen in pictures, I was not prepared for the looming mouth of the cave soaring overhead and then disappearing into semi-darkness near the back before it curved around and came out on the opposite side of the cliff. Fully embracing our tourist sides, we took an excessive amount of pictures doing various poses (jumping, cartwheels, the Ole Lion mascot pose) in the mouths of the caves so that you could only see our outlines in front of the picture perfect ocean before heading back into the twilight underneath the cliffs. It was really cool to be able to walk back into the cliff as it narrowed slightly and then made a U-turn back towards the sunlight outside, with a huge cavern at the back. We could definitely tell why they didn’t allow people down too close to high tide, though. You would not want to be stuck in the back of the cave if a huge (or even a small) wave came in!
After another mini photo-shoot and climbing up some of the rocks outside the caves, it was time to head out so that we would have time to make it to Porpoise Bay, our destination furthest south and the home of the world’s smallest dolphins! Next to the car park above the Bay was a small shop advertising ice cream and since we’d had a rather meager lunch of PB&J we decided to treat ourselves before walking down to the beach. Right as we got down to the water and were about to stick our feet in, Sarah and I simultaneously let out rather high-pitched, undignified squeals and pointed to the same spot in the waves right next to the rocks at one end of the beach. We’d seen what looked remarkably like a very small dolphin jumping towards us out of the waves!! Ahhh! The others were doubtful of our reported sighting, but soon enough Leslie saw another jump in the distance! There turned out to be quite a few playing farther out by the rocks at the end of the beach, it was so incredible! Watching the world’s smallest dolphins playing right off shore, standing on a beach in New Zealand on a beautiful day, and eating Hokey Pokey ice cream…”Is this real life??” I asked Amanda, only partially joking. We both agreed that it would be hard to find much better J
Sarah and I were both anxious to see the dolphins a bit closer and hopefully get some good photos so we decided to do a little adventuring over the rocks to get farther out into the bay where the dolphins were swimming. Unfortunately, by the time we made it out to place we had seen them they were nowhere to be found. However, we discovered some an amazing place to sit and watch as waves crashed against the rocks, creating huge sprays and subsequent miniature waterfalls running down over the rocks and into tide pools. As usual, on the coast, the rocks were covered in tiny mussels which we had to avoid sitting on and the water below was filled with seaweed longer than we were, looking from above like great, black hair swirling in the waves. Although it looked interesting, it certainly had a distinctive odor, shall we say. When we had given up on spotting the elusive dolphins again we climbed our way back to the beach and were rewarded with the sight of a sea lion making its way up from the water! After having read the sign that they can move up to 20 km/hr on land, we were hesitant to get too close, but we snuck up on it as close as we dared (not very) and watched while it flippered up to the grassy knoll above the beach before laying down to rest after all of its exertion.
A couple at the DOC had told us at one of our stops that our best chance of seeing penguins would be at either Curio Bay (still farther south) or back at Nugget Point around dusk, at which time the penguins begin making their exit from the sea to nest on land for the night. Since we still had a couple hours drive back to Dunedin, we decided to drive back up to Nugget Point since it would be on our way back and so would involve less driving in the dark. You aren’t allowed to go down onto the beach after 3pm for the safety of the penguins, but there was a little observation hut from which we could see the whole beach about 200m below and, lo and behold, a yellow-eyed penguin was already sitting on the shore! He must have been waiting for us, considerate little guy J After only a few more minutes of watching, we spotted a little dot surfing in towards the shore and soon we got to watch the whole process as the little penguin fought against the waves and slid up onto the beach before standing up and beginning his waddle out of the tide. It was so funny to watch him waddle a little ways, stop and stand with his wings out like he was trying to either take off or look much larger and impressive than he actually was, preen a bit, and then continue on his way, repeating the process about every 10 feet. By the time we had seen 3 other penguins surf ashore, it was starting to get a bit darker and we were starting to get colder so we decided to call an end to a very successful day of exploring natural wonders, spying on wildlife, and being our own tour guides down the coast. We made it safely back to Dunedin around 9 that night, after managing to dodge some rather trickily placed (and occasionally overturned) construction cones and maneuvering the one-way street system again once we got back into town. All in all, another great day of adventure in a country which continues to amaze me at every turn J
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