The Catlins

10th March Monday
Drove to Curio Bay in the Catlins. I drove first then we changed over at Tuatapere at a cafe where we had coffee and a piece of cake. Chris then took over to Invercargill where we filled up with petrol and decided to have fish & chips for lunch. We found a fish & chip shop in the lonely planet guide and drove to where it should have been but could not find it , when we asked where it was the guy said that it had been closed for about 10 years but he did tell us where there was one which happened to be a chinese take away so we had some and they were very good. I then took over driving again and we drove through Fortrose where there was supposed to be a shipwreck on the beach but we could not see it and the road ran along the side of the beach. So we carried on to Waipapa Point where there was a lighthouse and some sea lions on the beach. We carried on to Curio Bay which was 22 kilometres away of which 14 kilometres was a gravel track. When we got there we were looking for Curio Bay Backpackers where we wanted to book a double room with ensuite , but it no longer exists so we had to make do with the campsite which was only $20 but a bit primitive (good job we had had lunch as the kitchen was very small). We were told that yellow eyed penguins came to the beach at 7:30 so we went to have a look but there was only one there but it did try to put on a good show for us. We also went to another beach where we were supposed to see dolphins but we only saw the fins of 2 of them.






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