Apr 6
2010

Originally, we had intended to spend a few days going to Milford Sounds and Fiordland, but a huge storm was coming in and the road out there is notoriously difficult to drive on. Its supposed to be insanely windy, and the weather can change within minutes since its a rainforest. Lots of wet turny roads on overpacked bikes was a bad idea so we had to skip it. It’s supposed to be one of the best spots in New Zealand, but I guess it will have to wait for next time. We did hear that a mudslide had washed out part of the road and left people stuck out there the day after we decided to skip it and head east to avoid the rain, so I guess we made the right choice. Anyway, instead our plan was to head east to another area called the Catlins which is supposed to be less impressive but still pretty cool. The ride out was real pretty, all sheep and rolling hills. First, on Sparky’s recommendation we stopped at this place that was a cafe set up at an old lignite pit. The pit had been filled in and was a huge landscaped pond surrounded by beautiful gardens and the cafe had delicious home made meat pies and pastries. Have I mentioned how much I love meat pies?

Next we headed into the Catlins and found a mind-blowing waterfall. Like super magical mystical amazing. We spent a long time hanging out there and taking pictures. The next day we found a nice tidal shelf covered in neat seaweed and apparently some penguins although we didn’t see any. So although it may not have been as cool as Fiordland is supposed to be, I was still pretty happy with what we found.