My Catlins road trip

In my last two posts I wrote about beautiful Dunedin, New Zealand, where I headed for a week's holiday to visit my niece at the end of September last year. While Bethany was busy with classes, I hired a car for a couple of days to see a little more of the wonderful countryside and the gorse-covered hills I had glimpsed on my drive from the airport.

 

It was a bit of a toss up which direction I would head, but I decided to follow the Southern Scenic Route south. The road led through a region known as the Catlins, which features idyllic countryside and spectacular coastal scenery, with picturesque bays, lighthouses and wonderful wildlife.  

 

My aim was to get to Invercargill on the first night, and from there, take the ferry for a day trip to Stewart Island. As I headed south, I couldn't have asked for better weather, and I was blessed travelling as I was in early Spring: it was lambing season.

 

First photo stop was the beachside township of Brighton, about 20 km southwest of Dunedin, and from there it just kept getting better.

Brighton

Otokia Creek

Taieri Mouth

 

The coastal road is bookended by two lighthouses: Nugget Point in the north, and Waipapa Point in the south.

 

Nugget Point

First glimpse of the distant lighthouse at Nugget Point

I just loved the bumblebees on the Pride of Madeira Echium candicans

Roaring Bay

Tautuku Bay

 

All good things must come to an end, and the weather didn't smile on me quite so kindly when I drove back through the Catlins after my stay in Invercargill and my trip to Stewart Island.

It looks relatively benign in the final photos from my Catlins adventure, but it was truly bleak - windy, wet and freezing.

Waipapa Point's historic lighthouse

Hooker's sea lions

More sea lions frolicking in the shore break

Near Niagara Falls (NZ)

A forlorn chimney - all that remains of a settler's homestead
 

Next post we visit Stewart Island.

Dunedin Botanic Garden

Dunedin was established in the first half of the nineteenth century and settled by Scottish immigrants, including the nephew of the poet, Robbie Burns. Its name derives from the Gaelic for Edinburgh - the city on which it is modelled.

Following the discovery of gold in in the 1860s, there was a surge in both population and prosperity. Both Dunedin's university, which I visited in my last post, and its botanic garden are the oldest in New Zealand, with 2013 marking the 150th anniversary of the latter.

I was fortunate enough to visit twice during my stay in Dunedin. It was a real treat to see beautiful native and cold climate plants in early Spring. Coming from warmer climes as I do, many of the plants I saw were quite new to me. I've done my best on names, but apologies in advance if any errors have slipped in. Perhaps you can help me out with some of the mystery plants: the pretty pink bulb with nodding head and patterned leaves between the photos of the pulmonaria (it comes in yellow too), and two daisy- like blooms - one white, the other pink.

Clianthus, commonly known as Kakabeak, is a small woody legume tree native to New Zealand. And what is a kaka you may ask.

This handsome parrot is a kaka. Endangered due to the impact of introduced species, in some places only one in seven wild kakas are female, which doesn't bode well for their future survival, so they are being bred in the botanic gardens for reintroduction to an ecosanctuary.

Related to the kakabeak is this Kowhai, recognised as New Zealand's national flower

Hellebore

Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White'

Camellia 'Royal Velvet'

Myosotidium, the Chatham Island forget-me-not

Hellebore

Bluebells

Fritillaria

More hellebores



Michelia yunanensis



Trillium



The Chatham Island forget-me-not showing how the blooms age to pink

Magnolia stellata f. rosea

And this M. stellata is the white form (and a double?)

On my return visit, I tackled the slope and wandered through the alpine garden.

Pride of Madeira and lime green euphorbia

 

The final stopping point of my visit was this woodland planting on the top of the hill - a host of golden daffodils that would have impressed Wordsworth.

 

However, if you enjoyed this visit and the plants featured, there is more to come when I visit Lanarch Castle on the Otago Peninsula not far from Dunedin in one of my next posts.