Day 9 - The Catlins

We left Keith and his cute dog Charlie around 10am and headed for Balclutha for a bit of shopping. With stops at: Countdown for some critical supplies, The Warehouse for some night attire for Miriam (she managed to leave her PJs behind!) and McKeowns to top up with diesel.

Then we finally set course for The Catlins! Still no rain so we made the right choice heading east.

First stop was Nugget Point where we ate our lunch (fantastic chicken mayonnaise and salad sandwiches from Countdown) before walking along the peninsula to the Nugget Point lighthouse. The views were fantastic but the wind quite cold. We stopped on the way back to see if we could spot some Yellow-eyed Penguins coming home but we were probably a bit early. DOC have a hide set up so you can watch them coming ashore after feeding during the day. No-one is allowed on the beach after 3pm to avoid upsetting their routine. All we saw were a couple of fur seals.

Then it was off to Owaka and our accommodation for tonight - the Pounawea camp ground.

Along the way we stopped and walked through the tunnel at the Tunnel Hill Historic Reserve. This is a rail tunnel dug by hand in 1891. It is 246m long and took 2 years and 70 men. Luckily we had our head lamps so walking the length was not likely to result damaging falls!

We are now safely plugged in at the Pounawea Camp Ground with only a couple of other inhabitants. It's a fabulous spot on the estuary with mature Kahikatea and Totara and loads of Tuis and Bell Birds We will do some exploring tomorrow before heading deeper into this wonderful part of the country.