The Deep South

After a couple of I days if relaxation in queenstown, and a pretty awesome run up one of the mountains overlooking the Great Lake Joe and I made our way down to the Catlins.

First I had my police interview, which went well. I got fined $200 and had to write an apology letter to the prick.

After this I went back, high fived Joe for not going to prison and we set out on the road.

We drove down South with Joe's excellent directional skills. Pointing left and saying "ok, take the next right." Hmmmm. We made our way to the information centre at the beginning of the Catlins scenic drive. The guy there was a blatand serial killer. So we left promptly.

We eventually got down to the lighthouse point and went for a walk on the beach. While we were looking at these weird, lively sand fleas which made the ground look like it was vibrating due to so much movement I spotted a huge Sea Lion coming out of the water!

He was huge, at least 6 if not 7 foot nose to tail. We watched him lumbering around from a distance before getting a bit closer when he got into the undergrowth. As he trundled along we were watching, silently, in awe. Until a massive roar was let out. He had accidentally fallen down the bank and landed on an even bigger Sea Lion! She was not happy at all! Stood up, gave him a whack, spotted us and jumped down onto the sand at us. Joe pegged it. Stupidly I had just read 'Life of Pi' where a small boy lives on a boat with a Tiger using eye contact to gain dominance.

Although this book is complete fiction and could quite easily get me mauled I tried the same technique. The Sea Lion got to about 4 foot from me and stopped. Staring for a while before retreating up the sand onto the bank.

That night we set up camp under an enormous wind swept fern tree. So wind swept in fact that the tree tip touched the floor!

Today we woke early, pleased that our tent hadn't been attacked by sea lions. Today we drove through the Catlins. Stopping to look at petrified, or, fossilised trees. A few waterfalls and some huge caves.

We went on a hike from the bottom of the South Island and saw some fur seals with their pups too!

Scott Aspect 60 Black S 12 Frame #08112349 7:41 pm, Mon 19 May

The caves were the highlight as there was some amazingly green slime, pink slime and also these weird rubbery sea trees that we picked up and threw at each other.