New Zealand – Dunedin to Kaka Point

We thought we would easily travel from Dunedin to Invercargill in a day, but Louise at the Dunedin isite (their information centres) put paid to that.  She gave us a little brochure on the “Southern Scenic Route”.  If ever you are down that way make sure to pick one up.  It was the best.

So, instead of heading south, we headed east along the Otago Peninsula.  The road winds right along the edge of the harbour, and being Sunday morning, we shared with lots of cyclists.

There is an albatross breeding ground out at the point, but we were too early to enter.  However, there were lots of baby seagulls to see.

Of course, we had to take a photo of the lighthouse.

Rather stunning coastline, isn’t it.

While peering over the edge, Mick spotted a seal.  See its tail?

Back on the road, we travelled through some lovely farming areas.

We called in at a little beach and saw a few wading birds.  Don’t ask me what they are, but they are pretty.

The road is generally coastal, but the route took us inland to Lake Walhola where we had a nice lunch of blue cod and chips on the grass.    (We were told we had to try the blue cod while down south.)  Rather pleasant.

Our little guide book told us to look out for a sod hut, used as a halfway house for men heading to the goldfields.  It is rather sweet.

It is fully furnished and open all the time, just fenced off so you can’t actually enter.  I loved the hooked rugs on the floor.

Next stop was Nugget Point Lighthouse.  That’s it way out at the end of the rocks.

It was a bit of  a walk along a windswept path – but it wasn’t too windy when we were there, just nice and warm.

It is only a short lighthouse, but rather lovely.

A good idea to keep boats away from these rocks.

Looking down we saw quite a few more seals, lazing in the sun.

And I finally got a good photo of a bumble bee.  There are loads of them over here and they tend to sit still for longer than the ones in the UK.  Notice the good native plant it is feeding on – not…. There are loads of thistles here too.

By now the afternoon was getting on and we had only travelled about half the way to Invercargill.  We had noticed a small town not far from the light house, Kaka Point, so decided to see if there was any accommodation there.  We hit the jackpot.  We saw a sign for “Mike & Jenny’s Units - $80 a night”.  Yes, they had a vacancy and it was just down the steps from the back garden to the pub/restaurant for dinner. 

We had a lovely wander along the quiet beach.  So much nicer than big centres.

 

  

 

This is the view from our motel unit.  Rather spoilt weren’t we.

It was a great day of just pootling along, making it up as we went along.  I think we were finally getting into holiday mode, which always seems to take us a few days.  Maybe we would get to Invercargill the next day.