le tour de burt

Up close and personal!

Heading out from Dunedin on an overcast Monday morning we took the trusty Nissan Pulsar along the Southern Scenic Route – a road trip through the Catlins Coast.

Not long out of Dunedin and we were rewarded with amazing views of the coast line and Pacific Ocean. However, we then took a slight detour looking for a gorge with a scary tunnel (if we had of been brave enough to walk through it we may have sited some glow worms!). Next stop was Kaka Point, with a gentle bush walk, views down the coast to the lighthouse at Nugget Point and a look around a stained glass gallery. The roads (if we could call them that) offered the Nissans suspension a real test, but it stood up to the test and took us out to some remarkable sights. Nugget Point is a little like the end of the world, its a lighthouse on a stretch of land out in the sea, with smaller nugget like islands surrounding it!

Our accommodation was Slope Point, an open house that if you liked you just stayed. Most people appear to only spend one night in the town of Owaka but we based ourselves here for both nights on our road trip!

Day 2 rewarded us with cloudless skies and summer time temperatures and some amazing scenery! First stops of the day were to two waterfalls, Purakanui Falls and Mclean Falls. We then came across a most unusual situation as we parked up in the Curio Bay car park, a seal lying in the road. My trusty road trip side kick was quick with the camera whilst I hid around the other side of the car!! However the wildlife show did not stop here and at Waipapa Point we were able to get too close in my opinion to a number of sea lions out on the beach! We hope to be able to bring you some photos of this shortly! As the day drew to a close we drove through Fortrose and back to Owaka with a stop at Lake Wilkie and Surat Bay!

Day 3 involved an early morning drive back to Dunedin so that we could get our Intercity bus to Te Anau, our base for the next couple of days! I must say a great big thanks at this point to my co-driver on the road trip for all the driving that he did, at first we weren’t sure if it was the complimentry mint imperials making me feel sick, but it turned out it was just the dodgy gravel roads and windy valley roads that was playing havoc with my stomach!!

So to Te Anua, gateway to Fjordland. We stayed at the very cosy Lakefront Backpackers were we came across people from all parts of the world and different walks of life. It was nice to just take things easy here and enjoy the local walks on the Kepler Track and the views to the surrounding mountains!

We did take a trip out toDoubtful sound. This is only accessible by boat across lake Manapouri, a stop in a hydro electro power station (no, we’re not sure why either) and then a drive down the Wilmot Pass before entering the 40km of fjord! Sadly we didn’t see any wildlife to speak of, but the 3 hour journey on the boat was very relaxing and offered some lovely views. It was then out into the Tasman Sea, which offered some slightly choppier riding!

So in the space of one week we have gone from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the monster that is the Tasman Sea, our little journey from Coast to Coast.