NZL South Island Pt. 3 – The most famous New Zealander

The Catlins

The Matai Falls in the Catlins

Eventually we needed to leave our very beloved Fjordland National Park and went to the Catlins, a region in the Southeastern tip of the Southern island, famous for its penguins and sea lions. Before arriving at our hostel (a converted hospital), we drove to Curio Bay where we marvelled at the fossilised jurassic-age trees which lay on the cliffs at the sea.

Christine counts the annual rings of the fossilised tree trunk

Fossilised tree logs on the beach.

Christine checking how fossilised trees feel like.

On the following day we visited another highlight of the region – the Cathedral Caves. You can only see them shortly before and after low tide as they are directly at the sea and get flooded by the high tide. Many people get very wet because they focus on taking pictures of the caves instead of watching the massive waves coming from the sea. It was interesting and a bit frightening being in the caves when the waves came in with their strong undertow.

Christine standing in the entrance on one of the Cathedral Caves.

The day we left the Catlins we woke up early to search for the Yellow-eyed penguin, the rarest penguin in the world. There is a hide hut directly over Roaring Bay, where we arrived at sunrise. The pinguins are nesting in the green bushes close to the beach and we were extremely lucky: we saw at least five penguins leaving their nests for the sea where they went fishing. After a quick look at Nugget Point we drove up the South Island to our campsite close to Christchurch.

The two yellow-eyed penguins in Roaring Bay are right in the middle of the picture. No zoom lens, sorry.

Christine (left) looks at the rocks at Nugget Point

Aoraki/Mt Cook

We did not want to leave New Zealand without taking a look at its highest mountain Aoraki/Mount Cook (3754m). Unfortunately, the clouds were hanging low and we were not able to get a glimpse of the peak. Anyways, this left us more time to visit the museum of one of New Zealand’s most important person: Sir Edmund Hilary, the first man on the Mount Everest. The museum told the story about alpinism in New Zealand and their most famous alpinists. There was also a movie about Sir Hilary’s life, how he climbed Mount Everest, and why he was the first man on the largest mountain. We were both very impressed and enthusiastically drove to Geraldine where we spent the night in a box on a campsite.

I think this could be Aoraki – but we were not really sure.

Christchurch and Banks Peninsula

The next morning we arrived in Christchurch early, to have enough time to explore the city. The heart of the city, which was severly damaged by earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, is still being rebuilt. New large buildings were erected next to houses, which are so strongly damaged that no one is allowed to enter. What struck us most was the Cathedral, which has not been repaired and is still in danger of collapsing. As there is an ongoing argument between people who like to rebuild the cathedral like it was in the old days and those who want to make everything new, the cathedral is still in the bad condition it was after the earthquake.

A tourist streetcar in front of the Cathedral in Christchurch.

The damaged Cathedral from the side.

The Cathedral is fully fenced off. Only pidgeons live in the ruins.

Generally, there is not too much to see in the city centre. Therefore, we spent a lot of time in the splendid botanic gardens, drank a tea in the teahouse, enjoyed the rose garden and the wonderful area with the native trees and bushes. In the evening we treated ourselves with a fantastic French dinner.

On our last day we woke up early once again to spend the day on the Banks Peninsula right outside Christchurch. We drove to the French town Akaroa, which lays directly at the light blue sea. There is a French bakery but otherwise it looked like a normal coastal town to us. We ate a light lunch before we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Sydney. Next stop: Australia!!