Catlins

7th December 2009 After the relative and glorious wilderness of the Catlins we were looking forward to getting back to civilisation in the shape of the South Island’s second largest city, Dunedin. On our arrival mid-morning we discovered a delightful, compact town centre shaped as a octagon with some wonderfully preserved old buildings. We didn’t really know where to start so we headed for the city’s I-Site where we were able to book a one hour historical walking tour of the city. This seemed like the best and quickest way for us to get our bearings, while learning about the grand old sites surrounding us. ...

6th December 2009 We are currently exploring the Catlins, supposedly a wonderful place for independent wildlife-watching. After our penguin experience last night, we were hoping for more encounters today, and we certainly weren’t disappointed. First thing this morning we decided to go up to the headland overlooking both Porpoise and Curio Bays to enjoy our breakfast, rather than sit in the campsite. While we were up there, I looked out of the doorway to the van, out to sea and saw a flipper, then a tail. There was a whale, right there out in the bay, a fair way off shore, but close enough that you could see what it was! Wow, just amazing to see one completely in the wild and completely by chance. ...

4th December 2009 Another good nights sleep after all the exhilaration and fresh air of yesterday and our luck with the weather seems to be changing, since despite our fears to the contrary, today has been another sunny, cloudless day, albeit with a cooling breeze. One of the things we learnt yesterday on our tour was that before man arrived in New Zealand, the only mammal it possessed was a bat, hence the high number of flightless birds in the country. It seems like the majority of NZ’s native species are endangered or under serious threat all due to introduced species like the rat, dog, possom and stoat. ...