Weekend Two: South Scenic Route

Another successful weekend in New Zealand!  We didn't have school on Monday so we had an extra long weekend.  We decided to stay in Alexandra Friday night and get an early start on the morning Saturday.  Saturday we took a short detour on our way to the rugby game in Dunedin.  We first stopped at the Moeraki Boulders.  The boulders are famous for their spherical shapes.  It was pretty interesting to see such rocks.  They said they were formed under the sea bottom and gradually brought to the surface from erosion.  We were lucky and didn't a single bad day of weather all weekend.

      

After the boulders we drove on to Dunedin, about 40 minutes.  We drove a bit to find our backpacker (hostel).  It was an old victorian house they had made into a hostel.  We bought a room with 5 beds for 27 dollars a person.  We were told we were going to have to share with someone but they never showed up.  It did a little bit of walking around looking for some rugby stuff but couldn't find any and decided to just go to the game.  We enjoyed a few beverages at the nearby pub and followed the crowd to the stadium.  I understood the idea of the game, but it was so fast pace it could hardly keep up.  I found myself watching the crowd a bit more.  It was still a good time.  We followed the crowd after the game to another pub for a few drinks and dinner and then decided to head back to the hostel.  We had planned an early morning of driving and sight-seeing. 

          

The next morning we got ready and drove along a route called the 'Southern Scenic Route'.  The area was called the Catlins.  There were many different sights to see along the way.  We first went to a light house called Nugget Point.  We walked for about 20 minutes to the coast.  It was a gorgeous sight!  We were even able to see Sea Lions enjoying a swim.  We enjoyed the views for a bit and continued along the route.  

 

After some time at the light house we continued west on the scenic route.  We then went to Jack's blowhole.  It wasn't actually a blowhole out of the ground.  It was inland from the ocean.  I believe it was almost like a cave that allowed water to come up at high tide but you could look down in it.  We walked uphill for quite awhile.  We were almost at tree top level. When the tide was high enough it came inland and hit along the side of the rocks.  It was very interesting to see.  The pictures don't do it justice but it really was amazing to see.

           

After the Blowhole we continued driving west.  Along many curvy, windy roads.  We decided to find a few waterfalls.  We walked about 10-15 minutes to find them.  They reminded me a lot of Colorado, except went we were walking to find them we were in more dense trees unlike the open air of colorado Mountains.  

    

We decided to call it a night. It was beginning to get dark.  We had made arrangements and found a cute backpackers to stay at.  We thought we were staying at the cabin but when we arrived we realized we had a cute little cottage.  We each paid 25 dollars.  It had a queen size bed, single and a pull out couch.  We found a cafe for dinner near by.  After dinner we drove a few km down the road to the beach to enjoy the sunset. 

 

          

The next morning we got up below low tide in order to be able to see the Cathedral Caves.  You can only access them at low tide which was at 10:30.  We drove a bit down the road from our cabin.  We had to walk down hill through the trees for about 15 minutes.  We then got to the beach.  We had to walk a ways down the beach in order to find the caves.  They were spectacular! We explored a bit and even enjoyed the morning sun and waves. 

  

 

Lastly, before driving home we stopped at Curio Bay.  It is one of the world's most extensive and best preserved examples of a Jurassic fossilized forest.  If you look close you can see fossilized trees throughout the beach.  Endangered Yellow Eyed Penguins supposedly live on the beach but they were shedding their feathers and weren't around.  

       

I think next weekend we are planning to stick around Alexandra.  We have a school fundraiser that we're going to help with.  We are looking for bikes to borrow and possibly ride to the neighboring town.