Te Anau to McLean Falls in the Catlins

Today we saw penguins!

Control gates on the Waiau river

Day started grey, cold and windy. Took the Southern Scenic Route which followed the river Waiau on its journey from Lake Manipouri to the sea on the south coast. Countryside was mostly rural plains, interspersed with some hills. Heavy rain for a bit made us glad we weren’t on the Doubtful Sound. Stopped to look at the Clifden Bridge, an old suspension bridge, built in 1899, now sadly in need of some TLC to repair and spruce it up.

Te Waewae Bay from McCracken's Rest

Weather began to improve now and, by the time we reached the south coast, the sun had come out and we were able to appreciate striking views of the windswept south coast from McCracken’s Rest. Passed several stands of trees, growing almost horizontally, due to the persistent prevailing winds. Started noticing signs for the Riverton Heritage Trail and Aenea remembered she’d picked up a leaflet on this a few days ago. Dug out the leaflet and followed the trail to some of its sights.

Cosy Nook

Mantell's Rocks

The trail took us to Monkey Island, a tiny island off a pleasant sandy bay. It used to be a place where boats were unloaded and is thought to derive its (European) name from the monkey winch used to haul boats ashore. Next we visited Cosy Nook, a picturesque bay and hamlet, originally named Cozy Neuk, by a Scotsman of course. Then, over some unsealed roads, to Mantell’s Rocks, some dramatically sculpted clusters of rocks, named after Walter Mantell, the first European to make the Southern traverse from Dunedin overland to the South Coast and as far west as the Waiau river.  Had our picnic lunch at the very windy Colac Bay, a surfing spot, though not today. Next stop was the pretty little town of Riverton. Here we had coffee and carrot cake in the Beachside Café, overlooking Taramea Bay.

We could have lingered longer in Riverton but it was time to head east, to our destination in the Catlins. We drove through Invercargill, which was full of roads with Scottish names and some nice looking Victorian architecture, but not enough to delay us with a stop.  The countryside was flat and rural and then we entered an area of wetlands at the estuary of the Matuara river, where the banks of the river were dotted with little fishing shacks, as this is a centre for whitebait fishing.  Paused at Fortrose for a breath of fresh air at the mouth of the estuary. This is where the Catlins officially begin.

Sheep, glorious sheep

Decided to stay on the main road for the first section, although this meant missing Slope Point, the southern most tip of South Island, since side roads here are almost all unsealed (i.e. gravel surface). Countryside now turned into to rolling green hills, with patches of woodland and some sheep in the fields. Could almost have been parts of Scotland. It was quite a contrast to the windswept coast we'd travelled through earlier in the afternoon. Our first diversion was to Porpoise Bay and Curio Bay.

Waves at Porpoise Bay

Porpoise Bay is a beautiful curved sandy bay in which a pod of Hector's Dolphins are resident. People come to this bay to swim with the dolphins but we contented ourselves with looking at them  through binoculars. Unmistakeably dolphins but too far away to photograph. Paused while John took photographs of waves crashing over the rocks at the end of the bay, then made our way along to Curio Bay where there are fossilised trees. These were more interesting than spectacular. Some were little stumps, others were fossilised logs lying horizontally.

Yellow-eyed penguin at Curio Bay

Curio Bay’s other claim to fame is as home to a small colony of yellow-eyed penguins.  Other than those that are moulting who stay in their burrows, the penguins go out to sea all day, returning in the evening. A notice at the top of the steps down to the bay informed us that the penguins were likely to start coming home around 7.30pm this evening.  We were still ~30km from our accommodation at McLean Falls Holiday Park but the lure of seeing penguins was strong. We found a nice restaurant nearby at the humourously named Niagra Falls, phoned the Holiday Park to say we’d be late checking in, and had a delicious meal. Read subsequently in one of our guide books that this is the ‘best restaurant in the Catlins’.

Drove back to Curio Bay and, yes, we saw penguins. At first we saw three – one scuttling on its way into the foliage at the back of the bay, one snoozing on the rocks and a third standing up, eyeing the small gathering of people. It was not clear who was watching whom. After a short wait, a fourth penguin appeared out of the sea and made its way clumsily over the rocks and beach. It was enchanting to see these rare penguins.

By now it was extremely cold. It was a dark and twisty drive to the Holiday Park where we had booked a motel room – comfortable but rather cold. Temperatures dropped to 4 or 5 degrees that night. We were glad of the electric blanket J