South Coast Safari

After finishing the Kepler Track we had a final night in Te Anau before heading south along the 'Southern Scenic Route' towards the Catlins. Arriving at Tuatapere though we had one last opportunity for walking which we fancied as it involved coastal paths rather than the fiordland mountains we'd been living for the previous 4 weeks.

(View from close to our free campsite for the evening)

So bright and early, after a night on a kind farmer's station for free, we set off for just a two night tramp on the South Coast Track. It forms part of the Humpridge track – a privately managed walk with bigger and 'better' accommodation than you usually get from DOC huts. I think it costs at least $130 in season but from May onwards they decommission their huts and you can walk the whole track for $45.

Despite that option we decided that 3 days of 20km was perhaps a bit too much for us with how we were feeling, plus we could do the DOC part of the tramp on our hut passes and stay in the DOC hut which was an old school house.

So day one took us along the coast, with beach walking for about 17kn to a place known as Port Craig. It's an old timber milling place that was only in use between about 1917 and 1928. Now the only thing left in the School House – since it was owned by the Education Board rather than the timber milling company - and a few remnants of the wharf, sleepers for the train they used to carry the logs to the wharf and various rusty bits of machinery.

It was a lovely place to spend the evening and we caught sight of Hector's Dolphins down near to the wharf. We shared the school house with 2 other couples that night, one of them had actually booked the out of season Humpridge walk and said of the other hut that there was no way left of heating it and as it was up on the ridge (about 1000m I think) it was pretty damn chilly. The private company use the DOC hut in the off-season rather than 'Port Craig Village' a mini holiday complex place that they've built where Si and I think we counted enough bunkrooms for 80 people. I'm glad we just had 4 for company.

(Port Craig School House)

It's the most atmospheric hut we've stayed at and on our 2nd night we thought we'd have it to ourselves until a local hunter turned up. He was an interesting character to chat to though as he ran a paragliding business in Queenstown and had seen some massive changes in the town over the years. Good changes in terms of a lot more money and tourism being such a boon to the local economy, but as with so many popular tourist places, city money comes in to buy property, holiday homes and pushes prices up for everything from beer to groceries to rates the council charges. He's not sure how he feels about the overall result despite his business being successful all year round now.

On our 2nd day we walked 6km further along the track along the old tramlines to see the world's longest wooden viaduct that is still standing. The weather was a bit drizzly and we were both feeling a distinct lack of energy. All the Fiordland tramping was finally catching up with us so we headed back to the hut early, got the fire going and had a game of scrabble. We've been practising by playing open book – with the official scrabble dictionary – and this was the first time we've played for a while without the book so a combined score of over 640 (our highest ever) was pretty impressive!

Simon did say he was going to wax lyrical about community hut life, it's probably good that he ran out of creative energy as it would have simply been some intolerant rant about having to share space with other people. Simon loves it really, and he will be the first to admit that learning new card games off an Israeli chap, meeting long term ex-pats with their views on NZ, chatting to Kiwi's about their home and getting more space to spread out when sleeping compared to our van all makes communal hut living a great experience. Especially when the hut passes are such a bargain.

The walk out from Port Craig was tiring and I think there was a psychological element of our bodies knowing that once we got back to the van that was it. No more ridiculous long walks – for a little while at least – and after a short drive back into Tuatapere a treat of take-away fish and chips followed by a stack of homemade cinnamon pancakes with syrup went down a storm.

We started the drive through towards the Catlins the next day ending up at Invercargill. The biggest metropolis we'd see in quite a while. Population of 40,000 or so and not getting a great rep from people we'd spoken to. It was a bit of reality check getting into one of the main towns in the south, a few characters who wouldn't be out of place on Shirley High street on a Saturday afternoon and a reminder that New Zealand is definitely not on the world's rich list. Houses that can look quaint and cute when you first see them are also rundown and in need of more than just TLC. One very good plus point for Invercargill though was Devil Burger. The most interesting burger menu I've seen. I opted for the Dark Knight – Venison, salad etc, plum and apricot chutney.... Si went for the ManKiller. I thought my burger was big. Just the weight of the bag with his burger in was enough to make our jaws drop. Once it emerged from the bag we realised that he had ordered something that was easily bigger than Si's head, probably bigger than mine although a little bit smaller than Scott's.. Wow – he ate it all, unfortunately we didn't have the camera and he did say to me this morning that the continual background hunger he's been experiencing for the last month has finally subsided.

(Riverton - a quick lunch stop)

We continued along the south coast heading for Curio Bay – home to a 160million year old petrified forest visible at low tide and the rare Hoiho (Yellow Eyed) penguins. The penguins were amazing, a few people gathered around from about 5pm waiting for their exit from the sea up to their nests for the night. They would hop out of the sea into the seaweed and start the slow waddling walk along the rocks. They didn't seem in any rush to get to their nests and spent plenty of time waiting for playmates and preening themselves before bed. Fantastic. All of this happening whilst we're stood on the remains of the petrified forest which in itself is well worth a visit to the bay. Followed by a night's camping on a high spot overlooking the sea to 3 sides we were a bit spoilt. The campsite itself is nothing to write home about but it was quiet and the location was well worth the $15 fee to camp.

(Penguins!!)

(160million year old tree)

With more sunny, fine weather the next morning we had a long walk up the beach at Porpoise Bay keeping our eyes peeled for dolphins – there is a resident community that from the signs we saw obviously come close enough to swim with in the summer but settled for one lonesome sea lion.

There were plenty more sea lions though at our stop for the evening – Cannibal Bay. We headed along the beach and they were just there grunting, roaring, fighting and generally not getting around very quickly. That said we didn't want to be too close; 350kg of male sea lion could do a bit of damage. Another really special place and experience that was completely free and available to anyone taking on the 7km gravel road to the coast. We camped there for the evening undisturned except for mouse number 5 that met it's maker in our new well used mouse trap.  It is a shame that freedom camping has become such an issue in New Zealand.  Partially because of the sheer number of people renting campervans during the summer and possibly a few financial motives to keep the local economy turning over, it is getting progressively harder to camp out in New Zealand - particularly around urban areas.  Rightly so if people cannot be trusted to take away their litter and use public toilets but for responsible travellers, out of season it just gets a little bit frustrating.  Still - there are places around if you look hard enough.

(Sea Lions at Cannibal Bay)

From Cannibal Bay we decided just to hit the roads to Dunedin where we'll spend the next few days. It seems like a cool city, bit more artsy than Christchurch and an opportunity to tackle some internet jobs, sightseeing and a long-awaited trip to the cinema!!  There's also easy access to surfing along the coast which for some reason Si doesn't seem keen to get involved in... possibly the pre-requisite of a 7mm wet suit is something to do with it!  Next stop will be Christchurch when we'll check in with a somewhat more mundane blog I imagine covering our trip up the East coast and the hunt for work in Christchurch which is now looming!  (But on a plus side it also means that Odyssey Yoga will be up & running before too long). 

(Dunedin City Centre)

Love & peace,

charl x

Check out more photos at :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=222392&id=681815399&l=8d8a621541