Rich and I had booked a three night stay in a cosy cabin in the Catlins. With the promise of coastal walks, beautiful lakes, waterfalls and the potential to see seals and sea lions, we were really looking forward to exploring the Catlins.
Our cabin was certainly cosy but it was perfect for us, our own sanctuary to return to after days exploring!
The Catlins reminded me very much of the Isle of Man, the landscape, the coastal views and the weather. The weather conditions changed daily, going from sunny and warm to overcast but mild and then overcast and wild! Whatever the weather, we were heading out to see what the Catlins had to offer. Here’s what we got up to.
Nugget Point was our first walk out to the coast with a lovely path winding around the cliffs to a lighthouse built in 1869. As we walked we kept our eyes peeled and before long found some fur seals basking in the sun on the rocks below us. When we reached the lighthouse we got a perfect view of the nuggets, rocks dotted off the end of the cliff. The sun was bright in the sky, the water was brilliantly blue and the grass lush green. It was a perfect place.
Jack’s Blowhole was a short walk that will be memorable for a couple of reasons. The first was for the public toilets, not because they were horrendous but because they had the most amazing view. Two not so great looking toilets sat on land with a view of the beach, ocean and cliffs beyond. If only there was a small window in the door to take in the view whilst using the facilities!
The second reason the walk was memorable was because I sneezed my head off the entire way! We walked through long grasses and trails where the grass had recently been cut back, so this was the day that my hay fever kicked in, BIG style. The daily antihistamine wasn’t enough to hold off the sneeze attack so we didn’t hang around long at the blowhole, just long enough to admire the view and take a photo or two before quickly heading back to the car!
Lake Wilkie was the first lake we saw in New Zealand, surrounded by dense mature forest the reflection of the trees in the lake was a perfect mirror image.
The McLean Falls were only five minutes drive from our cosy cabin. Following a pleasant trail up the river, through forests, over bridges and under low branches, we reached the stunning top of the falls.
The Cathedral Caves are only accessible at low tide, so we timed our visit accurately to ensure we didn’t miss out on this wonder. There was a lovely walk down across the beach to the caves, which were hidden from view until we passed the headland and saw the arching entrance of the caves towering above us.
Not knowing what to expect we headed into the caves and understood why they were named cathedral caves. They were huge, massive in height, really deep back into the cliff and the ceiling was arched, just like a huge cathedral. From the entrance we walked a hundred metres to the back of the cave which then had light coming from another angle. It turned out there were two entrances to the caves!
Rays of sunlight shone through a second narrow opening in the cave, we followed the light and saw the second smaller arched opening with the waves beyond. As we headed back out of the caves and across the beach we passed lots of people making their way across to them, it turned out our timing was perfect, having seen the awesome caves without people filling them!
As well as grassy coastal walks and forest lined waterfall walks, we also found the Tautuku Estuary Boardwalk which meanders out into the fernbird habitat, with reeds for as far as the eye could see.
On our coldest, windiest and wettest day in New Zealand so far, we put our raincoats on and headed off to Slope Point, the southernmost tip of the south island. Admittedly the weather wasn’t that bad when we set off but it quickly got worse as we started on our walk!
Walking through the wind and rain Rich and I laughed at how we weren’t going to bring raincoats on our round the world trip. We were chasing the sun after all! Had it not been for the fact that we needed the large pockets of our outdoor coats to store things in to pass the seven kilogram cabin baggage weight limit for our backpacks, we wouldn’t have had our coats at all. What were we thinking?!
Thankful for having our coats on, we ploughed on to slope point and admired the crashing waves for a moment before getting blown back to our car.
Despite the bad weather, Rich and I were determined not to let it spoil our fun and we headed onwards to Waipapa Point. This is a well known spot to see sea lions and we were very excited about this! Unfortunately it turns out that sea lions don’t really like lying out in the wind and rain, they are more sun lovers. So despite our determination, we didn’t see any sea lions at Waipapa point and had to make do with the view of another lighthouse instead!
What the Catlins had promised us, the Catlins had delivered (well apart from the sea lions) and on our last night in our cosy cabin we were happy with our lot and knew we would remember the Catlins fondly.
Lambs on the loose 