Catlins,
New Zealand
Friday, June 1, 2007
Leaving Dunedin.. i hadnt exactly planned on where to next but i had read about a really good hostel in Curio Bay in the Catlins.. so feck it will head for there.. It was already geting dark as i left the Otago penninsula and once i started driving into the Catlin's national park area it really got remote.. i didnt meet another car for over 100km in any direction and hadnt a stick of signal on me phone either.. Now it is off season so i was half thinking would this hostel even be open. I was a bit pissed off driving cos i knew the area i was driving through was supposed to be scenic but i couldnt see a poxy thing in the dark.. Anyway i got into Curio Bay and found where the hostel was.. It turned out the hostel is a house on the beach basically.. and you just check urself in and then call down in the morning to another house down the street and pay for however long you stayed.. real honest system. The hostel was brilliant and there were only 5 others staying there who were all dead sound so we had a good laugh that evening and got up in the morning then for the sunrise coming up over the beach. Along with the other 5 we drove down to the Petrified forest which is on another beach cove and from there we drove on to Slope point which is the most southerly point in New Zealand.... Next stop is the Antartic.. After that i had to backtrack a bit where i had driven the night before to see maclean and matai waterfalls and another beach which was stunning.. Even driving about during the day there are virtually no other cars on the road.
With all i wanted covered there i carried on west to invercargill stopping there for food and petrol and next stop Te Anau and the Sounds...
