Summer in the Catlins

December 27-31 2014

Team: Mark, Spike, Myself

Catlins Area

Our summer holiday this year saw us hit the Catlins - an area neither Mark nor I had ever visited before. It was lovely to explore somewhere new, that was laid back and relaxed, with lots of outdoors things to do. We spent MONTHS planning this trip, and managed to largely get absolutely perfect weather, which was awesome.

While there are some longer walks available in the area, mostly the walking is short - as in 45-minutes at a time is a fairly long hike. Which is perfect when you have a nearly 2 year old on your back because he doesn't want to walk!

We based ourselves at Pounawea to start with, at the campground. It was lovely. Couple of really nice little units, clean showers (although the hot water was patchy), a small kitchen that worked mainly because the site was predominantly taken up by locals, who bought their own massive set-ups to stay for a week.


December 27th

After an early arrival at the campground, we did a loop walk that starts at the back corner of the site. This is call the Pounawea Nature Walk. It had heaps of interesting stopping points with information about some of the native trees that were in evidence. It didn't take us as long as we anticipated - or as long as the signs advised, even though we took the long way to go down to the tidal flats of the lake to make our way back to camp.



December 28th

It was a very warm day. We decided to head around the coast a bit to Nugget Point for our walk in the morning, stopping briefly at Tunnel Gully on our way there. Its a nice, cool little spot, but only worth it for train or history buffs, really!

Nugget Point was really neat, although you wouldn't want to try it if you had vertigo!

The return walk from the carpark was 1.8km, and took us 40 minutes return, with Spike in a pack. We stopped at the lighthouse for morning tea, and I definitely think I need to go back - although rumour has it that the area down there is hectic at dawn (which would be epic) with busloads of tourists - buses we never saw, anywhere in the Catlins. It is quite markedly downhill from the carpark to the lighthouse.

 

In the afternoon we did a double waterfalls walk - first in to Purakanui Falls, and then to Matai Falls. Both were gorgeous, and cemented WaterFALLS as one of Spikes favourite things. Purakanui was busy (as expected) and Matai was pretty quiet, which was lovely. Spike largely refused to walk anywhere on these two walks.



December 29th

A quieter day - a morning walk up the hill to Jacks Blowhole. I found it quite an effort, and I wasn't carrying a toddler. The blowhole was neat, but as with many, your view is limited as you have to stay well back for safety reasons. The views on the way back were better.



In the afternoon, we hung around the campsite as Spike had had a rough night with getting to sleep the night before and was refusing to nap. We also had nothing we felt strongly enough about to go back to, as we had done all the key walks we wanted to do at this end of the coast. It was actually a lovely afternoon at the campground, especially since it was rather hot!
The dusk was seriously impressive, which I would have missed had I not made friends with the family on the neighbouring campsite and spent the evening chatting to them.




December 30th

After checking out of the cabin, we headed up to Kaka Point for morning tea. There aren't many walks here, and Spike hated the beach, so we jumped back in the car to drive south to Waikawa Bay, where we had another nights accomodation booked. As with everything in the Catlins, it wasn't that long a drive, and we wound up going through "town" and down to Curio Bay for lunch once Spike woke up.

After checking in to our lovely, but VERY hot accommodation, we headed to the access road for Cathedral Caves, intending to arrive shortly after the road opened so we would have as much time as possible to explore. The day was roasting hot and we were looking forward to getting our feet wet. Sadly we hit two problems: 1. The road wasn't open yet, 20 minutes after it was meant to be, and there was no shady area to wait in, and 2. We didn't have anywhere near enough cash to pay the fee to cross the private land to get to the Caves.

So, we abandoned that plan and headed for McLean falls instead, which were totally worth it. In this day and age, where viewing platforms and safety barriers are the norm, you can actually climb all over and into  the falls. Fantastic on a hot day for cooling yourself off! On the way back we stopped at the campground cafe for an ice-cream and to grab a couple of cans of coke (at $4 each), as there are no shops in this part of the Catlins. What we really wanted was a beer, and Mark seriously considered staying at the cafe for dinner so we could have one, but we had meat that needed to be cooked back at the motel.



December 31st

We had purposely not done Slope Point the previous morning, leaving it for on our way south to Bluff. This was a mistake. The weather turned absolutely nasty when we were half way to the sign, and then started hailing as we got to it. Cue panicked toddler in backpack and soaked parents in jeans! A quick photo at the sign, then I threw the backpack on while Mark carried Spike in his arms, inside his raincoat to keep him calm. I all-but ran back to the car so I could dig out towels and dry clothes for everyone, and after a very rapid change of clothes in the backseat for Spike (including a nappy since he was wet through!), we got changed too and headed off again.



The weather for the rest of the drive south was much better. We got some nice views down the coast, and stopped in a small town just out of Invercargill for a late morning tea (we were completely out of food because we had expected small shops down the coast, since the map indicated there were shops or cafes in most towns. There kinda werent). In Invercargill it was time for lunch and groceries (I pushed Spike in the buggy to the supermarket to keep him quiet) before we headed south to Bluff for the night.