Brian & Kristynn: Adventures in Middle Earth: One final trip

January 1, 2015

What a way to start the new year - we drove the Southern Scenic Coastal Route through Catlins National Park and it was stunning. Warning: there are a lot of pictures in the post and you will think you are dreaming it's so gorgeous!

I so wish we could have stopped in more places, but we had to get all the way to Invercargill so we were limited to only a few stops. This is definitely a see-again place.

Florence Hill Lookout
Luckily the sun was out today, although a storm was always lurking in the rearview mirror. As we were driving the scenic route, we saw this amazing beach below the road and pulled over at this lookout we found. It was picture perfect.

This view was so stunning I wish we would have had food for a picnic or something to enjoy it longer. But if you look to the left of my right hand, you will see a truck down on the beach so we decided we would figure out how to get down there as well.

Tautuku Beach
Success! We found the road leading to the beach. At the urging of Brian, I got brave and drove right onto the beach. I was concerned that we would get stuck in the sand, but it was packed tight and driving on it was a cinch. And it was a perfect evening with a nice breeze to cool it down.

Even Ike was getting in on the fun!

Now that's some green moss on those rocks in the foreground.

Niagara Falls
We saw Niagara Falls on the map and thought we had to see it. Of course it couldn't compare to Niagara Falls in the U.S. as the mountains weren't too high in this part of the country, but I was interested to see what it would look like.

We turned on to a dirt road and kept driving and driving. Eventually we realized we must have passed it and turned around. But we did take a couple of pretty pictures first.

I swear, every time I take a picture of sheep they stare me down.

As we drove back, we think we found Niagara Falls, but it was just a little drop of of maybe a meter each. We didn't even stop to take a picture haha. But it was an interesting adventure on that extremely rocky road!

Waipapa Point
The last stop we made was at Waipapa Point where you supposedly can see sea lions. We were going to try and find a spot to see penguins, but everything I read said you needed to stay until the evening and we couldn't be that late. Oh well!

Waipapa Point had a cool lighthouse and we did have an encounter with a sea lion. Exciting! More postcard pictures incoming...

After we had walked up to the lighthouse, we walked down to the beach to try and see some sea lions. This is what we found.

This guy was laying absolutely still, and eventually we decided it was dead. so I trotted onto the beach to get a picture.

So imagine my surprise and fear when the guy lifted up his head while I was still standing right near him! If you notice in the picture above, I'm between him and the ocean.

We had read a sign back at the parking lot which stated 1) do not get within 20 meters of a sea lion and 2) do not get between a sea lion and it's escape route (the ocean). Clearly I was in violation of both as I thought it was dead. So I quietly back away and then ran for my life. I guess I overreacted because he just put his head back down and went back to sleep.

But isn't this country amazing? These areas are so unspoiled by humans and we can just visit them for free. Awesome.

Brian found another a friend a little further down the beach.

There were other things to see while we were on the beach as well. I had fun watching a bird picking up it's meal and dropping it from 50 feet in the air to crack the shell open. It was so interesting. I didn't get great pics of it though, they were mostly blurry.

Swooping in to pick up the meal before taking it over to the rocks

Took about 4-5 attempts before success was achieved

Some fishermen were enjoying the beach as well.

Brian always takes pictures of me walking away, so I finally put one in. LOL.

It looked like the storm was catching up to us, so we decided to call it good and head on to Invercargill for the night. But first, a couple last pics on our way out.