Tiki Touring Today

We spent another day of tiki-touring around the beautiful Catlin Coast.  Slope Point was our first destination, and we bumped, slid and bounced down a very rough unsealed road.  Slope Point has the distinction of being the southern-most point of the South Island, at 46.4 degrees south.  We followed the track through farmland and were very pleased we were dressed to combat the ferocious wind seemed to be blowing straight from Antarctica. 

Walk this way

There was an interesting sign at the end of the track, just right for another photo shoot.  My goodness, it was blowing a gale.

All rugged up at the southern most point of New Zealand

What’s over the edge?

Next stop along the coast was Waipapa Point, home of the Waipapa Point Lighthouse.   The wooden tower was built in 1884, is 13m high and the structure stands 21m above sea level.  The lighthouse was fully automated in 1976.  The lighthouse was built after the Tararua founded on the offshore reef in 1881.  The loss of 131 passengers makes it New Zealand’s worst civilian shipwreck.  This disaster led to the lighthouse being built, compulsory provision of lifejackets for all passengers on board, and the requirement that crew regularly practice lifeboat evacuation.

  Waipapa Point Lighthouse

Reef the “Tararua” founded on

I could hear all sorts of strange grunting noises going on just over the sand dunes, so carefully tip-toed over to have a peek.  On the beach below was a group of sea lions, all being rather noisy.  The large male seemed intent on separating two juvenile males from his pair of young females.  There was a lot of shuffling around, banging of heads, and mouthing going on. 

A group of sea lions

With a bit of manoeuvring, more grunting and pushing, the large male had the group split up exactly as he wanted it, and settled down to snooze in the sun.

A young female sea lion

We drove on to the small settlement of Fortrose to eat our picnic lunch beside the Mataura River.  Here I noticed a couple of fishermen trying their luck.   After filling the 4WD with diesel, we completed the round trip back to camp.

Any luck, guys?

Back to Niagara Park, our stop for the last couple of nights.  This NZMCA camp has no facilities other than a safe place to park for the night.  But we do have some four legged woolly neighbours just over the fence.  We are moving on tomorrow, and heading for Invercargill.

Camping at Niagara Park

Our neighbours over the fence