I spent Monday to Friday travelling along a stretch of coastline called the Catlins. It is quite remote and consists mainly dirt roads, which helps to keep down the number of tourists! Despite being in the middle of nowhere, the standard of accomodation has been superb - easily the best hostels that I have stayed in so far in New Zealand.
I spent Monday and Tuesday at a tiny place called Curio Bay. The hostel was right on the beach, and from the lounge I could watch dolphins swimming around in the bay. Occasionaly they would surf the waves quite close into the shore and also jump right out of the water. Some brave people actually went in swimming with the dolphins, but at 10 degrees the water was definitely too cold for me! I also saw yellow eyed penguins coming ashore in the evening, plus had a look at a millions of years old fossilised forest.
I then went a little way further up the coast, to another small place called Papatowai where I stayed at a hostel called Hilltop Backpackers with awesome views (as the name suggests it is situated on a hilltop!) and a supply of free-range eggs which made for some great breakfasts!
On Friday I continued up the coast to a Surat Bay, where we saw a group of around 10 sealions lazing around on the beach, before seeing more penguins coming ashore at a place called Nugget Point.
I spent the weekend at the city of Dunedin, where I saw yet more seals, penguins and sealions. The highlight, though, was definitely the visit to the royal albatross colony on the Otago Peninsula. As it was quite a windy day, the albatrosses were up soaring around the colony which made an awesome sight. Click HERE to see the photos.
