Catlins

We spent the Sunday night of our trip with some friends who live in the Catlins, an area in the far southeast part of the South Island. We asked them for some ideas of good places to visit on our way to Invercargill the next day, and one of their suggestions was Purakaunui Falls, a walk not too far from their house. We made that our first stop for the day. I took a picture of the sign at the beginning of the track because I knew I wouldn’t remember this name!

The track went through dense bush, along a creek. It was beautiful and peaceful!

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The waterfall was spectacular! It reminded us of Bond Falls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, except on a smaller scale.

Mr. Diligence, Elijah, Mr. Imagination

Simon, Elijah, Mr. Sweetie in between them, and Mr. Imagination

Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination

Little Miss

After we left the waterfall, we had to stop on the road for a minute because some farmers were moving a mob of sheep down the road. We didn’t actually see those sheep, but we did see this mob in some yards just down the road.

The Catlins are beautiful! Rolling green hills with bush here and there, and sheep and cattle on the hills.

At times we drove along the sea; this is a river mouth.

The beaches are beautiful!

We spent two nights with our friends in Dunedin. While we were there, I didn’t take any pictures. It was pouring the entire time, and we mainly stayed inside. Our friends had built a guesthouse, which we slept in. I wish I would have gotten a picture, but every time I went to it, I was trying to carry a baby and an umbrella, and dodging around the river that was running down the path we took up to it! It was very comfortable, and we enjoyed our time with them. We left late Sunday afternoon, and headed on south to visit some friends in the Catlins. Just before we left, Esther wanted to get a picture with her two little sisters, in the new dresses she made for them all just before our trip.

Our friends live on a mountain, and the road going down is slightly daunting! I have no idea what the gradient is, but it’s steep!

This is the Dunedin Train Station, which I posted pictures of the other time we were down there. You can find the pictures here and here, if you’re interested.

More interesting buildings in Dunedin.

Houses on the hillside. Dunedin is a very hilly city!

Maybe half an hour after we got on the road, the skies opened in a cloudburst. It was raining so hard that we had to slow down quite a lot. We could hardly see ahead of us. We kept moving, but slowly, and soon the rain let up—but then we started seeing flooding.

We crossed a bridge over the Taieri River, and saw the water pouring over the stopbank on the far side. Esther was taking a video at the time, and caught that.

I don’t think anyone drove into that paddock that day!

It was rather a relief to get away from the flooding as we continued farther south. I was a bit concerned that the road might end up closing, and didn’t want to be caught somewhere we didn’t want to be.

The Clutha River was high, too, but not as bad as up north.

The Catlins are beautiful! Rolling, green hills with cattle and sheep on them.

Catlins

Thank you!