Day 3
I knew we were by the ocean the night before but didn’t realise what we going to wake up too. A beautiful sunset next to a golden sand beach! Unfortunately, the clouds came in early and stayed the entire day. We made our way back down the coast with Nugget Point as our first main stop but not before making a diesel stop, as well as emptying our black water.
The plan was to take the scenic route through the Catlins all the way down to Bluff. We approached a gravel road that would eventually take us around and up and down (mostly up) to a car park where the rain set in. A short stroll took us up to Nugget Point lighthouse. Nugget Point gets its name from a group of rocky islets that surround the headland. The rain had set in and we carried on, stopping at waterfalls along the way. We saw more sheep than we'd ever seen before (in Monita's head the ratio of sheep to people was like 1,000:1). The Catlins coast is amazing in the sense that the sea meets the lush green forests.
As the light started to fade we were nearing Bluff. The southernmost town of the South Island, famous for it’s Oysters. It was a Monday and almost everything was due to close on our arrival. We found a fish ‘n’ chip shop and got some dinner, along with some deep fried Oysters. Over dinner we checked the weather for the coming days and decided to push another couple of hours up to Te Anau to get to Milford Sound the coming day. A gamble that would reward us greatly. A quick, dark stop at the famous sign at Stirling Point and we headed straight for Te Anau, passing through Invercargill.
It was a very long day of driving, our biggest by a good 40-50km. We pulled into a camp ground, plugged in and tapped out.
