One Stressed Out Yellow-Eyed Penguin

Slope Point
see all photos »

Leaving Invercargill our next stop was Waipapa Point.  The claim to fame for this spot is the shipwreck that happened off the coast here in 1881 when the SS Tararua sank and 131 lives were lost. In response to this disaster a lighthouse was built here and went online in 1884. The gold sand beach is littered with large black rocks and we did see a large Hooker's seal.  The windy, chilly, overcast morning added a bit of romance to this beach.

At Curio Bay we saw some of the petrified fossil forest for which the beach is famous. These fossils are 180 million years old according to the brochure.  The literature also claims that seals and penguins hang out there, but we of course saw neither.

The windy, chilly, overcast morning added a bit of romance to this beach.

Curio Bay Fossil Tree
see all photos »

Porpoise Bay is home to the Hector's dolphin, penguins, and seals.  No dolphins or seals, but we did see one yellow-eyed penguin here as did the other 36 people at this smallish beach.  The poor bird had its picture taken many at least 36 pictures in about 6 minutes, making it world famous in New Zealand. Reminder: the best time to see penguins on land is at dawn before they head out to sea, and at dusk when they return.

McLean Falls
see all photos »

At Slope Point you can have your picture taken with the sign indicating its location on the planet.  This point is the southern most point on the South Island.  It is also closed to the public during lambing season from September 1 to November 1.

After a very nice lunch at the Niagara Cafe we checked out Picnic Point at Papatowai.  There is one toilet (the other is being fixed it seems) and one picnic table in the small park, but the beach is broad and golden with tide pools and big black rocks.  The size of the beaches here is just amazing, they are so wide.  Coming from Oregon it still startles me to see cars zipping up and down on the beaches here, to me it just seems wrong. There is a track off the beach that heads inland and takes you through some really beautiful woods.  This track led me to believe that I was reaching the conclusion many times over and just as I was thinking of turning around, there was the end of the track.  When I popped out, it turned out I was about 100 metres from our car.  The walk takes about 35 minutes and was quite enjoyable.

Back at the "crib" the rugby Sevens finals were being played and watching the games in the common room at the holiday camp was the hottest ticket in the camp. The final match was New Zealand playing England for the cup. NZ had it won until literally the last second of the game, when England scored a try and won by 1 point. It was gutting!