The Catlins

Our time in Southland is sadly coming to an end, so we decided to take one last touring trip to The Catlins "at the edge of the inhabited world." The Catlins is a region near the southernmost point of New Zealand that boasts some unusual features, like yellow-eyed penguins, Hector dolphins and a 180-million year old Jurassic fossil forest.

Our plan was to follow the Catilins Heritage Trail on foot, running from point to point. But when we got  to the information site at the edge of the Heritage Trail we realized there would be miles and miles of gravel road between sites and a fair amount of traffic. Plan B was to drive to the sites and run from the parking lot to the site of interest. At the first stop, the lighthouse pictured below, we realized that we could see the destination from the parking lot. This was going to make for a long day of starting and stopping.

So we moved on to Plan C, which was to run on the Waipohatu Waterfall Track for a couple of hours, then decide how much energy we had left for tourist attractions.

Despite that fact that the region had had at least a week without significant rainfall, this track was very muddy. There were logs in the mud for large sections of the track, but even those were muddy and spongy.

We heard the waterfalls long before we saw them. My photographs of the upper falls do not do them justice.
They were tall and loud and the air sparkled with sunlight coming through the spray.
Definitely as impressive as any waterfalls we've seen during trips to Hawaii.

The lower falls, about 300 meters downstream from the upper falls were completely different
 from the upper falls, but equally spectacular.

Ruben couldn't resist getting in the pool beside the lower falls.

I got in, too. It was really cold, but it was a hot day and felt great!

Finishing the Waipohatu Waterfalls Track. 

After our run and refreshing dip, we decided we could  handle at least one more tourist site, the Petrified Forest.

This area was once forest surrounded by active volcanoes. Following a volcanic eruption, the lower parts of the trees were buried and turned to stone. The trunks that are lying flat were carried in by floodwater and partially buried. The petrification was so complete that the wood looks like wood, but feels like stone. We were there during low tide, so we could walk out among the fossilized stumps and logs and see the fern fossils.

 The sandflies were ferocious, so we didn't stay here too long. Lunch sounded like a better option. We drove to a town on the Heritage Trail called Niagra that appeared to be entirely composed of one cafe.

Most cafes have a menu board to order from as well as cold cases where pre-made sandwiches, meat pies, and "slices" are stored. This cafe in Niagra was a typical example, with that day's offerings written on the glass in magic marker. 

What was NOT typical is that on the edge of the counter were these three medals from the London Olympics! They were just sitting there where anybody's grubby mitts could get at them. I reached out my grubby mitts and touched the gold medal to see if it was real. It sure seemed to be!

This picture was on the wall near the medals. I took the photo hoping I would be able to look at it later to see whose medals these were, and for what, but I can't make it out. So good job, Olympians, whoever you are! 

I'm still kicking myself for missing a picture of R's Kiwi-style fried-egg hamburger, so I took pictures of today's lunch, a tasty lentil burger on foccacia for me and mince nachos for Ruben.