Dunedin, the Catlins and Milford Sound (23 - 27 February 2008)
Dunedin is a big town with too many students, the steepest street in the world, a compact town centre, some interesting museums and galleries and the oldest church in Otago. These are also the sights that we visited on our trip to Dunedin.
Baldwin Street is, according to the Guinness World Book of Record, the steepest street in the world with a gradient of 1 to 1,266. We walked up the street, took some cool photos and watched as two way too fit girls run up this hill!
We first struggled to find a parking spot, then opted to park next to the church and walk the rest of the way. The Dunedin Presbyterian church is the first church of Otago and is almost too big to fit into a normal camera shot. The Public Art Gallery had a great collection of classic and modern art, but the best was the original Monet on display.
From here we made our way out of town and onto Highway 1 towards Balclutha. We opted for a camping ground about 11km east of Balclutha, as it seemed to be the most affordable one. We had such a great time here at the Kaitangata (try pronouncing this word!) Riverside Motor Park. Kaitangata is a very small town with the motor camp, a general store and a pub and nothing else! The owners of the motor park welcomed us with open arms, we had the kitchen to our full use and the showers and laundry were free of charge. We took proper advantage of this commodity and did all of our laundry.
We met a retired New Zealand couple at the camp; they were travelling through the South Island for three months with a campervan. They invited us over for some red wine and cheese, and on our budget, this was a proper treat! We found that the New Zealanders in general are very friendly and hospitable, but the degree of hospitality in the small towns is beyond anything I have ever experienced.
The next morning we were starting our trip through the Catlins. This is also known as the Southern Scenic Route and it is a road between Dunedin and Invercargill, passing through a region of isolated forests, bays and waterfalls. We admired the scenery and before we even new it, we were in Invercargill where we stocked up on groceries.
From Invercargill (the Benoni of NZ, with hot cars and everything) we drove to Te Anua and visited their Wildlife Centre (not much wildlife in NZ apparently!). We stayed over at Tautaperre and had the weirdest sausages ever (yes, these top the pork, lamb, beef, chicken combinations we had previously). They were a violet purple colour and tasted like honey…
From here it was off to the spectacular Milford Sound and the rain began. Everyone raves over the natural beauty of this town, or more specifically, the sound. This is a vast piece of land scatter amongst the ocean forming canals between the meters high carst hills. To truly experience the scenery, one needs to go on a cruise, but it is so expensive (seeing that we are still in peak season in NZ) that we decided to rather give it a miss. The drive to town was still worth it though. And it just kept pouring down…
That night we slept at the most interesting campsite called Hollyford Camp. The eccentric hostess turned the camp into something worth noting. There are funny sign up everywhere, legs and boots buried in the ground looking as though someone is stuck in the lawn, head under the soil. At least this made up for the rain and the second irritation - the NZ sandflies. These buggers are all along the West Coast and they bite! The itch only starts about three days after you have been bitten and it forms a little blister-like sore - NOT NICE!
Click on image to view gallery for Dunedin, Catlins and Milford Sound: