Cloudy Catlins

Sunday 25 May

Sundays weather forecast wasn’t great - but the sunrise over our wee spot at the NZMCA Niagara site was pretty decent.

Our plan was to work our way out along the main eastern road through the Catlins so we set off in the opposite direction from the day before. As we drove through some of the valleys there was frost on the ground and a definite chill in the air. After a rather disappointing coffee stop at the Whistling Frog we set off to walk to McLeans Falls. Whistling Frog could be a great campsite, right in the heart of the Catlins, but the reviews online are shockers, and our experience of the cafe was very underwhelming. The new owners seem to have blown their budget on kitschy frog decor and have no idea of customer service, charm or campers' needs. I asked what brand of tea they served, the guy looked confused, so I asked who made the tea and I could see him thinking "Well, I do"... it was very odd! So we drove on up to the carpark behind the camp and headed off through the green and mossy bush, alongside and over the river. The falls were quite high and pretty impressive, with little pools part way down which would be fun to have a dip in in the summer.

The bush along the path was fascinating with parasitic vines winding around tree trunks, a cool array of lichens and mosses and the weird tree fuchsia or Kōtukutuku, covered in crinkly skin-like bark which peeled off in strips leaving naked, pale peachy like wood exposed below. We had seen lots of these trees down at Bluff, they seem to be quite common in the deep south and are endemic to New Zealand.

Our next port of call was Florence Hill Lookout as Cathedral Caves were closed due to high tides, and then on to Papatowai in search of a cafe (there was one, but it was closed for winter - again!) We had a wander down at the estuary where we met some local dogs, a pair of Honk/Wah ducks and a pied stilt, then turned back to Tautuku Bay to explore the beach.

Tautuku Bay was wide and beautiful with the potential for good surfing or boogie boarding waves in the summer - Louis took the temperature and declared it too cold for swimming today! We saw a strange looking sculpture from way down the beach - and on wandering closer, discovered it was actually a long, heavy, wavy strip of seaweed!

There were other piles of seaweed along the way and the sand was all aerated and full of holes around them - fascinating. I presume there is some kind of sand lice or mollusc that excavates under them and puffs up the sand around them. I also found a stunning piece of shattered paua shell which was absolutely beautiful.

Back at Niagara, we had a bite of lunch then Abby & Jez packed up to drive to Invercargill so that Abby could work without distractions on Monday. We slightly detoured off the Deborah Diet with a delicious cauliflower cheese with leek & bacon for lunch - yum!

We decided to stay another night and after I’d completed the campsite jigsaw, we went back to Porpoise Bay for a twilight wander and a lacklustre sunset.

Back at camp Louis cooked us BBQ chicken for dinner and we retired to bed early in our cosy Banjo 🥰