Catlins Coast
Catlins coast
***pictures at the bottom***
I’m seriously starting to get grandeur fatigue. Although i guess that it’s entirely possibly that i’m just getting fatigued and happen to be consistently in places of grandeur… either way, I didn’t make too many stops on the drive down to the southern coast.
If anyone is thinking of traveling down here, seriously don’t even worry about renting a car. I’ve been picking up hitch hikers whenever I can, and they all say that it is extraordinarily rare to wait more than five minutes for a ride. It’s even fairly common to be offered work or accommodation if you’re picked up by a kiwi. The worst I think you can expect when hitchhiking here is being picked up buy a strange fellow who asks to make hour long pit stops to record puddles and grass rustling. Anyways, I think I finally started to test one hitchhiker's patience when I got lost in the sounds of a tide pool and forgot about him for a little while…
The Catlins are pretty sparsely populated, and the coast still feels pretty wild in places. I camped in a small little town on the eastern edge of the reserve that night. I was hoping to see the Cathedral caves, these massive coastal caves, but they’re only open with the low tide, and I just didn’t have the time to check them out. I was a little bit disappointed, and ended up spending the evening wandering across yet another massive beach whose sand looked nearly like a mirror in the evening. Wherever you end up here is going to be gorgeous, so you really don’t have to stress about plans much.
While checking out some of the rocky edge leading to the cliffs overlooking one side of the beach, I stumbled upon my own cave! It was a bit tough to get to as you had to wait for a wave to recede then run through shallow water to reach it. I think I got some pretty enveloping ocean sounds in there, but I didn’t stay too long as the sand flies always start eating me as soon as I press record. I’m definitely improving at silently dancing them away though.
I was pretty beat after a long days drive and plenty of new sandfly bites, but the little camp store actually had red chile powder so I stayed up and thoroughly enjoyed my rice and beans that night.
I think that one of the most immediate things you notice here is the sounds the birds make. It’s been nearly four weeks and I thought I was getting used to it, but the soundscape of the birds calling out in the mornings always feels like waking up on an alien planet. This was my last night of camping for the trip, so I was finally motivated enough to crawl out of my sleeping bag to get a recording. I’m really glad I did, as I think it’s one of my favorite sounds from this place. Check it out. I mean seriously, what a beautiful way for the day to greet you.
Today’s drive had me making my way up to the old Scottish town of Dunedin. Specifically a farm on the Otago peninsula, about 30 minutes drive out of the city. On my way there I spent probably three hours on little back dirt roads to check out every little bay and beach. There’s so many, and almost all totally empty. The water is cold, but definitely swimmable. And I made sure to get a good swim in along the way. Somewhere along the way I stumbled upon another pretty sweet waterfall too!
My last stop was the southeast corner of the country. It’s called Nugget point because of all of the interesting rock formations jutting out into the antarctic ocean. The rocks are covered in seals and birds. Total postcard view. So I made sure to go and get my postcard picture. I’m learning more and more that it’s really fairly difficult to take a bad photograph in this place.
Nearing the last week of my time in New Zealand now… Starting to get more and more introspective about the journey. But there’s no time for that now, I’ve still got miles and miles to see, and my next accommodation provides me the opportunity to actually count sheep from my bedroom window. Not that I need any help drifting to sleep with days as full as these.
