I was still mostly in a state of undress when I got out of the van in the morning.. and a guy was standing by bushes and beckoning me over.. I’m quite glad I did as I got to see these guys who were living in the (thick) flax on the campsite… making their way down to the water for a swim.

Then an extra lovely start to the day… my overly generous brother gave me a go-pro for Christmas & Birthday (forever) I think.

Really looking forward to trying it out.

Next it was off to Jacks Blow hole ~ 200m from the sea and 100m+ ? deep… quite impressive.

Finally it was time to leave the Catlins and head home (via a few more waterfalls) so that we would be back in time for the arrival of Femke, Maaike’s sister on the 26th.

Stayed the night at Purakanui bay..

View Larger Topographic Map

Very nice spot with some Rata growing down by the beach. It was definitely a popular place to stay… but in the off season I bet you’d have the place to yourself.

After that it was on to visit the Gypsy Caravan at Papatowai. That place is a must see I reckon if you’re in the area. The guy has made a whole lot of automata (I really should have brought my video camera…). Really very cool and maybe, when I’m all growned up I’ll have to tinker a bit.

Next it was onto Curio bay where we stayed the night for Christmas Eve. Twas a lovely spot. I was slightly disappointed by the petrified forest…

I mean… it’s a stone log. Sure it’s a hundred million billion years old (well, Jurassic period but.. they’re hardly a “forest” now are they. I was expecting giant trees made out of stone. Admittedly that was a daft thing to hope for, but it’s the truth.

Penguins made up for it (again! hurrah for penguins)

Then a lovely eve at a simply beautiful campsite looking out over the Southern Ocean towards our friend Amy who’s in Antarctica. Well worth a look at her blog.

We stayed at Trotters Gorge campsite and then had a quick bimble through the caves in the morning. Saw some Cave Weta. Note, that last link is to a site I helped setup with Egressive called NatureWatch (a port of an open source naturalist website called inaturalist.)

After that is was down via Dunedin to the Catlins – first stop Nugget Point.

Close by we also dropped down to view some yellow eyed penguins. Doc had setup a “hide” there which afforded nice viewing without disturbing the birds too much. Not that the other tourists and a couple of people from Fish & Game used it – preferring to stand outside….

After that we dropped into an information centre to see the tide times (tides dictate when you can see most of the attractions in the Catlins) and decided to head on over to the Cathedral Caves the same evening before doubling back to our campsite.

Also, our first Catlins waterwall. Lovely innit.

Woohoo! Holidays! – I definitely struggle with only 20 days holiday a year. And yes, I realise this is a First World Problem. Anyways… Saturday rolled around and it was off South to the caltlins for us (an area along the coast between Dunedin and Invercargill). It was a lazy start to the day and we only aimed to get as far as the Moeraki boulders (4 1/2 hours South of ChCh). It has been 5 years since I was last there when my brother Matt & Helene were here. Seems like an age ago now.

The Moeraki boulders are 4 million year old concretions formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between sediment grains. So there. Here’s Maaike jumping on one. I wonder if in another hundred years that’ll be banned!

After that it was off to Fleurs Place for dinner.

Dinner was delicious, and the place was wonderful to be in. I’d definitely recommend if you’re passing Moeraki. My only wish was that I’d known about it when Matt & Helene were here!

So, not too much to report on – had a quick run down the Hurunui (Grade 2 / 2+ river) before going to see Fly My Pretties in concert. Was well impressed by this ladies shoes.

Also, here’s a video from the cameron hut trip that I forgot to put up at the time.

Also – have been thoroughly enjoying my time in Resolve.. very nice bunch of people to work with. We also have a “Rocket” Espresso machine and I’ve been getting a bit better at my coffee art:

It’s amazing the things you can learn on you-tube (probably just about anything!).

Finally, continuing to put my cocktail making skills to good use. New favourite might be the Mango Daiquiri.