Our time in Gore was a chance to catch our breath a bit again. We ended up staying with the mom of the YA from New Zealand in the small city of Gore in the southern part of the South Island. She told us we had to call her Gran and we had a lovely time staying in her home doing our normal routines of schooling, laundry, blogging, and planning for the trip. It also served as a base point for a few day trips.
Hanging out with Gran involved many things such as doing crocheting together and being introduced to the Great British Sewing Bee. We also very much enjoyed her home made plum jam, apple chutney and cheese scones!
We enjoyed some walks around Gore.
There was time to try some baking science experiments and for Julia and I to go on a date.
Blue Mountains
For our date, Julia and I drove into the Blue Mountain area. It was a bit overcast that day but still a beautiful drive through pastoral country sides. This area is more rolling hills than peaked mountains.
The Catlins
Our biggest day though was a full day trip to the Catlins area which is along the Southeastern side of the South Island. We made quite a few stops and saw quite a bit before circling back to Gore.
It was spitting and windy at our first stop at Waipapa Point Lighthouse. It was a quick run in, run out type of stop.
Our next stop was Curio Bay which has a few odd things about it. First, some of the rocks down in the bay are actually petrified tree trunks. Second, this bay is home to two types of penguins which we were hoping to see. Alas, none were there. When we had taken the Milford Sound boat tour, the captain had said that it wasn’t the right time of the year to see them so we are guessing it was the same case here.
Even though we didn’t see any penguins, when we went to the next bay over for an overlook, we did see some dolphins in the bay.
Welcome to Niagara Falls….New Zealand. Someone had a sense of humour.
Our next stop was Cathedral Caves which started off with a lovely walk through a silver fern forest on our way down to the beach.
Our first hurdle on the way to the caves.
There were two cave entrances and both went basically straight back angling towards each other until they touched, forming a V underground.
The second hurdle is that between the tide starting to come in and a rogue wave breaking just as we got there, you could no longer get out of the cave without getting your feet wet. With some begging, three of us kept our feet dry.
Another beautiful hike on our way to McLean Falls.
Lower McLean Falls.
Upper McLean Falls. A step up from Niagara Falls of New Zealand.
We took a hike along the Old Coach Road Forest Track (Papatowai).
Another quick stop at Purakaunui Falls.
Cannibal Bay, with fighting sea lions.
Our last stop was a bit longer hike out to Nugget Point, so named because of the nugget shaped rocks at the end of the point.
We saw a number of seals, both out at the point, and down at the bottom of the cliffs along the hike in and out.
That was a full day!