Time to leave the Southern most tip of mainland NZ and head up the west coast to see fjords and glaciers this side of the South Island.
A simple breakfast in the apartment as it was a DIY affair, but at least the tea is perfect.
A string of beaches and blue seas are seen before we turn inland to head up into the Southern Alps. It is possibly our love of the seashore but each turn around a headland elicits more smiles as we see some tremendous surf rolling in.
Riverton Rocks Lookout - A sign of this name convinces us to turn off the main road as it's supposedly only a kilometre away. Come upon a neat bay and large concrete whale, so that had to be photographed with Eric trying his best Cap'n Ahab impression.
There was a pile of rocks by the whale, but looked completely man made and hardly constituted a lookout. Followed the road the other side of the junction looking for the rocks and lookout only to drive down a 2Km gravel road to a dead end without seeing anything like the usual lookout - but there was a good beach and car park. The route had a lot of rocks with waves breaking over them all the way - perhaps this was what constituted the rocks.
Colac - great surf with a huge surfer sculpture as you enter the town. Plus some very well decorated bus shelters (a popular pastime of the Kiwis around here), this time with a Simpsons theme.
We also noted that we seemed to have a green car stalking us, on the other hand they could have been tourists too. Or they could have just thought that we knew where we were going as we lost them soon after they followed us down the second dead end.
Oropuki -sounds a bit like something you ate for dinner that didn't agree with you. Deserved a picture anyway.
Monkey Island - a very small Island at high tide from where the Maori traditionally used to look out for whales. There were wooden steps and walkway on it nearly the size of the Island, but the tide was in...
Gemstone Beach - site of yet another goldrush, but no mention of jewels, they obviously blur the distinction between a stone and a precious metal!
Eric thinks that one of the goldminers must still be living here.
McCrackens Rest at Te Waewae Bay
The sug. Commemorates the completion of the Southern scenic highway at its most southerly point
On the route inland we see a sign for an historic bridge - looking up river from the new road bridge it looks like a miniature version of the Clifton Suspension bridge so we decide to stop and have a closer look - and it's in a place called...Clifden, the architect obviously didn't have a spellchecker back in 1898.
A rather startling sight just north of Clifden was a fence line about 100 metres long that was festooned with ladies bras (are there any other kind of bra?), there must have been a thousand, of all colours. We saw the goat skins in the North Island being hung on fences because they were considered pests, but we hoped women were not seen in the same light in this part of NZ. We passed it too quickly for a photo, but googling "bra fences New Zealand" will get you a hundred.
Simply rolling countryside until we get into the mountains again, and the first lake -Manapouri, which makes an ideal spot for our picnic lunch. After threatening to rain we had a clear but cold sunny spell for our picnic, with some dark clouds glowering in the background.
We are not far from tonight's destination now, it's only about 24km to Te Anau. Checking into our B&B we have the lake view we were hoping for.
Te Anau is very easy on the eye, with a lakeshore walk, mostly single-storey newish houses and some building going on plus a selection of hotels/motels. Selection of pics follow.
We decide that we should post some presents home before we have to leave for Australia, lest they might confiscate them. This becomes a far more complicated operation than anticipated...Zzzzzzz.
The sun is still shining and we opt for a picnic dinner as well, with a lakeshore table providing an ideal venue - until the sun dipped behind a mountain and the temperature dropped. Retreat to our room for the night and enjoy a nice cup of tea.