Day of week: Monday
Cities visited: Queenstown, Curio Bay
Lodging: Lazy Dolphin Lodge at Curio Bay in the Catlins
On Monday morning we packed up from our first lodging. The hosts were away visiting family so we had the kitchen and common area to ourselves, which made a decent living space feel spacious and homey. One thing that this trip has done is boost our (Emma's) AirBnB profile with lots of good reviews. We drove into town and split an Irish/English breakfast described on menu as "Pork sausage, streaky bacon, fried eggs, black pudding, baked beans, hash brown,
Portobello mushroom, grilled tomato & toasted Vienna bread". Quite the feast to fortify us for the day. They were also showing live a Christmas Day U.S. basketball game - Cavaliers vs Warriors. We ended up walking around downtown a little more - the cities of NZ are definitely not the best part. Here is a look at "downtown Queenstown", ultimately a small-ish but beautiful place we'd be happy to come back to.
We stopped in at an outfitters called KathMandu that was having a big Boxing Day (day after Christmas) sale. The store was very busy, which was the sort of experience we're trying to avoid on this trip. We picked up some hiking pants and shoes, which will also help us during our planned hiking trips in 2017. We are trying to do 8-10 hikes, one each on the third weekend of the month, an adventure we're naming "Third Hike". We're looking forward to picking out the trails, and have already decided on Coal Creek Falls and the Boulder River Trail for Jan and Feb. The first hike is Jan 4, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, supposedly one of NZ's best one-day hikes.
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| Queenstown Downtown |
We stopped in at an outfitters called KathMandu that was having a big Boxing Day (day after Christmas) sale. The store was very busy, which was the sort of experience we're trying to avoid on this trip. We picked up some hiking pants and shoes, which will also help us during our planned hiking trips in 2017. We are trying to do 8-10 hikes, one each on the third weekend of the month, an adventure we're naming "Third Hike". We're looking forward to picking out the trails, and have already decided on Coal Creek Falls and the Boulder River Trail for Jan and Feb. The first hike is Jan 4, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, supposedly one of NZ's best one-day hikes.
We left Queenstown driving south and immediately drove into dense farmland. Sheep and cows were everywhere, along with the occasional horse. One interesting part about this is that the animals were often very curious and friendly. Simply pulling over and walking near the fence was enough to bring them over. Except the sheep. Sheep hated us, for some reason. Possibly because we often were dining on lamb?
As we drove south the incredible natural beauty of NZ farmland surrounds you. Green rolling hills speckled with white dots of sheep and brown cows, blue skies, lots of sun, and empty roads. We drove along windy paths that were a lot of fun to drive, making you feel like a race car driver in a video game. We have also learned to appreciate good quality "tar-sealed" roads, having driven on gravel "unsealed" roads for kilometers at a time, including some that were particularly windy and bumpy. A nice sealed highway road now elicits an audible appreciative murmur from both Emma and I whenever we hit one. We eventually drove into the Catlins, our home for the next two days - here is a timelapse video (an Emma specialty) of us driving into the farmland.
We were told it was one of the beautiful parts of NZ, and it didn't disappoint. Like we saw driving in, green everywhere, lots of cute farm animals grazing on their own, unmolested by humans except for the occasional shearing or kidnapping/murder/consumption. Speaking of consumption, we had dinner at the Niagara Cafe, a family owned establishment and one of the few in all of the Catlins area. Even the restaurant owners were also sheep owners on the side, but that's the kind of place area is.
After dinner we went to our lodgings at the Lazy Dolphin Lodge, a nice little place at the Curio Bay. Our first taste of nature was just outside our lodging. As we said, animals are everywhere in the Catlins, and its not just livestock, but wild animals. Curio Bay, a 15 minute walk away, showed us wild husband and wife yellow-eyed penguin couple. The yellow-eyed penguins are listed as the rarest penguins in the world. We kept our distance a bit but watched as the penguins hopped around and then retreated to the near hidden on a hill in tall grasses, with one penguin going inside to the babies and the other standing guard outside.
Curio Bay is also the site of a petrified forest. Apparently it's rare and super interesting, but our main memory is surprise at how much it looked like rock. The ocean tide and waves coming in were strong and almost violent, a common theme with the various waters we were to see in the Catlins. Waves come in hard, bounce off or along rocks, and then smash into each other loudly. A "riptide" indeed.
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| Emma and the Caitlin's wildlife, vol 1 - the high five |
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| Emma and the Caitlin's wildlife, vol 2 - they chill out |
As we drove south the incredible natural beauty of NZ farmland surrounds you. Green rolling hills speckled with white dots of sheep and brown cows, blue skies, lots of sun, and empty roads. We drove along windy paths that were a lot of fun to drive, making you feel like a race car driver in a video game. We have also learned to appreciate good quality "tar-sealed" roads, having driven on gravel "unsealed" roads for kilometers at a time, including some that were particularly windy and bumpy. A nice sealed highway road now elicits an audible appreciative murmur from both Emma and I whenever we hit one. We eventually drove into the Catlins, our home for the next two days - here is a timelapse video (an Emma specialty) of us driving into the farmland.
We were told it was one of the beautiful parts of NZ, and it didn't disappoint. Like we saw driving in, green everywhere, lots of cute farm animals grazing on their own, unmolested by humans except for the occasional shearing or kidnapping/murder/consumption. Speaking of consumption, we had dinner at the Niagara Cafe, a family owned establishment and one of the few in all of the Catlins area. Even the restaurant owners were also sheep owners on the side, but that's the kind of place area is.
Sheep farm at the Niagara Cafe - see, sheep don't like us!
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| Emma with a big smile at our chocolatey vacation dessert! |
After dinner we went to our lodgings at the Lazy Dolphin Lodge, a nice little place at the Curio Bay. Our first taste of nature was just outside our lodging. As we said, animals are everywhere in the Catlins, and its not just livestock, but wild animals. Curio Bay, a 15 minute walk away, showed us wild husband and wife yellow-eyed penguin couple. The yellow-eyed penguins are listed as the rarest penguins in the world. We kept our distance a bit but watched as the penguins hopped around and then retreated to the near hidden on a hill in tall grasses, with one penguin going inside to the babies and the other standing guard outside.
The yellow-eyed penguin family, along with a "closer to the penguins than suggested human" :/
Curio Bay is also the site of a petrified forest. Apparently it's rare and super interesting, but our main memory is surprise at how much it looked like rock. The ocean tide and waves coming in were strong and almost violent, a common theme with the various waters we were to see in the Catlins. Waves come in hard, bounce off or along rocks, and then smash into each other loudly. A "riptide" indeed.
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| Panorama shot of Curio Bay |
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| Man (Zach) contemplating the existential infinity of the ocean |
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