#catlins coast

[travelingpage]

🌍 Catlins coast, Otago, New Zealand | 📸 gsamie

[rywillc]

Purakaunui falls, Slope point and the catlins

[rywillc]

Nugget Point

[kaanoelani]

The most beautiful view to wake up to

[thisischaptersix]

Nature at its best on the Catlins Coast

Leaving Dunedin behind I travelled to the little visited Catlins Coast, which extends across the southernmost tip of the South Island. The drive is a mix of sealed and gravel roads and the coast switches at almost every turn from quiet, peaceful beaches to wild, rugged rock platforms attacked by crashing waves. For me, I think this coast shows nature at its best - here are some highlights... Flora and fauna The Catlins Coast is packed to the rafters with marine animals and birds. There were seals hanging out on the rocks, dolphins playing in the surf, massive sea lions sunbathing on the beach, penguins investigating the rock pools and albatross skimming the water with their enormous wings. It was clear this was their domain and I was just visiting. It's not just the wildlife that's special here, the plant life is pretty spectacular too. Being on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and so close to Antarctica, the effects of the weather are evident. Long strand of thick kelp sway in the crashing waves, fields covered with harsh clumps of straw-like grass and even the trees grow at an angle because of the constant southerly winds! The petrified forest No, this is not a really scared group of trees, but an ancient fossilised forest that sits under the sea and reveals itself at low tide....let me explain. Millions of years ago massive floods of volcanic debris destroyed the forest and slowly impregnated the trees silica, turning the wood to stone. It's strange, but it's true. Of course, all that is left of the trees are the fossilised stumps and some longer logs that fell during the lava-stone-flood, but it is an impressive sight and really does look like a collection of tree stumps (once someone explained what I was actually looking at!). Waterfalls With so much rocky bushland, so much rain and so much coastline, it's inevitable there are some stunning waterfalls here. They're not on an enormous scale, but set in picture perfect surroundings at the end of winding bush walkways that follow the streams and rivers. At most of them, I was able to get up close and personal with the cascading water...so much so that one of them claimed the lens cap of my camera. Lighthouses Ok, not technically nature, but the Catlins Coast is littered with lighthouses. From Nugget Point in the east, past Slope Point - the most southerly point on the South Island - to Dog Island off the coast of Bluff in the west, they come in every shape and size. Some are still manned, most are not, but they all stand as sentinels along this awesome stretch of coastline. Next stop, Milford Sound!

[thisischaptersix]

Keith's photo of the day (9th October): One of the less exotic, but most common animals on the Catlins Coast

[thisischaptersix]

Keith's photo of the day (8th October): Kaka point at the start of the Catlins Coast

[coiour-my-world]

Lower McLean Falls, The Catlins, South Island, New Zealand by ILYA GENKIN / GENKIN.ORG on Flickr.