It was hail stones that fell on us as we clambered in to the car at noon. We had a slow start to the day and missed breakfast.
We had decided, unenthusiastically, to explore the Catlins today which stretch from Bluff to Balclutha. We stopped briefly in Bluff at the lookout point that had been erected for tourists. It was unbelievably windy and blowing an absolute gale. My ears were stinging as I shied away from the lookout and succumbed to the shelter of the car. We had a very good view of Bluff 'though but we could barely see Stewart Island for the rainclouds over the ocean. We polished off our Bluff experience by eating the leftovers from our Christmas Day picnic - a real Boxing Day affair!
Back in to Invercargill to fill up on fuel and to enter another Kachingo draw as a result of purchasing NZD 25 worth of fuel. We picked up the Southern Scenic Route again and visited several points of interest along the way, namely the petrified fossil forest at Curio Bay, McLean Falls, Purakaunui Falls and Nugget Point before heading back to Invercargill via Balclutha.
Curio Bay is home to a fossilised forest, the remnants of which are still very clear when the tide is out. The wood has been very well preserved and the history of the petrified forest has been retained. The fossilised trees remain exactly where they fell thousands of years ago. The bay also happened to be a moulting area for yellow eyed penguins although none could be seen today.
McLean Falls were a very pretty sight. A short walk through forestland and up a slippery path revealed a very beautiful waterfall cascading 10 metres down, seperating at two points, rejoining and then seperating again in to four falls, which then rejoined again to fall as one stream of water which fell down further to continue as the river went downstream.
Purakaunui Falls were three tiers of cascading falls which was very evenly arranged yet less impressive and the visit was accompanied by another hailstorm.
At Nugget Point there was a very 'exhilarating walk' to an 1869 lighthouse which we declined to partake in. There was the suggestion that fur seals, elephant seals, gannets and penguins might be in the waters but given their lack of presence so far on this bleak and out of seasonal day we forfeited the possibility in preference to remain warm and dry in the car. We also reasoned that the lighthouse was several metres above the level of the bay and any sightings of animals or birds would be left open to clarification by binoculars or common suggestion. We figured that the Cape Palliser experience would be extremely hard to improve on.
I arranged some accommodation in Dunedin for tomorrow night and we made our return journey to Invercargill. A hot curry in 'The Fat Indian Curryhouse' 2 metres from the hostel car park completed our day. We travelled 420 kilometres from Invercargill and back again today!