Our itinerary today took us out of the Catlins and on to the city of Invercargill. Of course there were a number of tourist sights for us to see along the way, most of them hidden down the end of a little gravel road.
The first of these was Slope Point – the Southernmost tip of the South Island. It was the furthest south that I had ever been and I stood looking out over the ocean thinking that there was nothing between me and Antarctica. It was very windy and cold. E. insisted that it had to be cold because it was so far south – No, no, no! The north is supposed to be cold! It’s so weird.
Next we stopped at Waipapa point. We stopped because there were supposed to be sea lions there, but instead all we saw was one seal who seemed to be moving inappropriately in the sand. Yesterday we had pooping seals, today they are enjoying themselves too much – I wonder if New Zealand animals are just going to get stranger and stranger.
The beach was lovely though and I got a great chance to take some good shots of a group of shags on a rock.
Coming back from Waipapa point we turned down a little side road just because it was gravel and they are always fun. We found ourselves a quiet little estuary to walk around. I collected more shells and even found a little dead crab sitting on the mud. I cheated and posed the crab on one of the rocks so that I could take a great looking photo – you can’t tell that it’s dead in the picture.
Eventually we started going through small towns and then into Invercargill itself. We stopped to ask directions again and soon found our way to check in at Southern Comfort hostel.
Being in a city, we used the opportunity to get cheap supplies, so we went to Pak’n’save to refill our stock. Among other things we got a whole fresh fish (that day’s catch) for $2.40. Unbelievable!
We decided to have it grilled and got Sizzlers (sausage with cheese in it) and lamb chops as well, started the barbecue and now have food for the next three days.
