Out and About in Owaka

What a great start  to the morning.  We woke to this stunning sunrise coming up over the hill here at Hillview Campsite, Owaka.

Sunrise in Owaka

Our camp hosts offered a “Full English Breakfast” wonderful value at $12 each, so we couldn’t turn that down.  The free range eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon and baked beans really hit the spot.  Then there was unlimited coffee and toast, so we were really set up for a day of sightseeing. 

Full English Breakfast, Owaka style

Now, just what is there to see in the little village of Owaka and surrounding area?  How about Teapotland.  This was a garden covered with teapots of every size and shape.  They were everywhere, even in the window of the house.  

Teapotland in Owaka

English country cottage teapots

Jack’s Blowhole is, not surprisingly, found in Jack’s Bay.  Trudging up the track through farmland, huffing and puffing on the steep bits, we let the younger fitter tourists pass us by.  The view over the coastline was spectacular.

View from the hill top

And there it was, Jack’s Blowhole, found surprisingly 200m inland from the sea, a deep ravine surrounded by native bush.  At 55m deep, 44m long, and 68m wide, no wonder the signs warned onlookers not to lean on, or climb over the fence.  Our visit was timed to coincide with high tide, but the sea was calm and Jack decided not to cooperate through his blowhole at all.  It is named after the Maori Chief “Bloody Jack” Tuhawaiki.  He swam to offshore Tuhawaiki Island in the 1830s to escape the massacre at Cannibal Bay by the ferocious Chief Te Rauparaha and his band of raiders from the North Island. 

It’s a long way down

Jenny, Pauline and Derek on the lookout

Trudging back down the hill, and fortified by a cuppa and a chocolate biscuit, we drove a short distance to Pounawea.

 

I had read about the “Dolphin of Pounawea” and was quite keen to track it down.  Not a real dolphin, but a simple wooden structure built in 1882 for the grand sum of 25 pounds.  Boats returning to the estuary tied up at the dolphin, then the force of the turning tide swung the boat around the narrow estuary channel.  Once very common, few of these timber dolphins survive today.

The Dolphin of Pounawea

Not far away on the Catlins River we found this handsome boat, The Portland, with someone living aboard.  No doubt this craft has had a very productive life and has plenty of tales to tell. 

The Portland

We took the scenic route around the estuary and saw plenty of waterfowl, black shags with their wings outstretched drying their feathers, and a group of black stilts feeding in boggy pastureland.  Back at camp I was mobbed by the camp chooks when I took some veggie scraps for them.  A couple of ducks joined in too, vying for the scraps, but the chooks were much faster on their feet and took all the best bits. 

One duck and lots of chooks