Dunedin to Te Anau

We arrived in Dunedin on the evning of Good Friday. New Zealand still retains that quaint idea that most shops etc. close on Good Friday & Easter Sunday & on the Sunday that includes pubs & buses.
Saturday we were sightseeing in the City. Lots of pictures of churches etc. We also walked up what is supposedly the steepest street in the world - Baldwin Street. We are not arguing.
Easter Sunday is Otago holiday parade which we managed to miss because we had an alternative appointment doing a tour round Speight’s brewery & in the afternoon on another of Pat’s must do’s on the Taieri Gorge railway with yet more stunning views out into the countryside to Pukerangi.
On Monday we left the campsite in Dunedin to head further south but before leaving the area we visited Larnach Castle, the only castle in NZ, but really it is more like a small manor house with a tower. Nothing like Windsor or Edinburgh. Interesting though! William Larnach, a banker & politician, who built the castle, eventually committed suicide with a single shot to the head whilst in the Parliament building. Some of our politicians could learn from this.
In the afternoon after driving down every unmade gravel road Pat could find we arrived at Pounawea in the Catlins where we stopped for the night. The Catlins is a lovely area of rolling downs & forest & we stayed at a lakeside camp. That night, however, the fog gathered over the hills & then slipped down over the lake and we could not see a thing.
It was still foggy & damp the following morning so we set out for Invercargill. The weather gradually picked up & we stopped at the Matai & McLean waterfalls & also Niagara Falls. As the board at Niagara says, the guy who named them must have had a sense of humour. We also had our first run in with sheep on the road. On to Curio Bay, an area of scientific study as it contains a petrified forest & fossils dating back to when Austarlia & NZ were part of the same continent.
We had booked a tour to Stewart Island for Wednesday & when we woke to find the fog had come down again we feared the worst. However, as the bus got closer to Bluff ferry terminal it lifted to give a brilliant sunny day. The crossing is 22kms & takes about an hour. It can be pretty rough but not today.
The Island is a lot bigger than we thought with 85% of it being National Park. A population of 300 - 400 is guarded by 1 policeman whose main job involves rescuing lost walkers. It has a 6 hole golf course with a club house nicknamed the tractor shed. Apparently it is easier to get planning permission for a tractor shed than a club house.
There are beautiful views at almost every point & we saw blue penguins, mollymawks (a relative of the albatross), wekas, fantails, bell birds, tuis. A bird watchers heaven. And the weather seemed to good to be true.
And so it was. The Thursday was overcast with drizzle on & off but still calm for the return crossing.
Friday 28.3 we left Invercargill with it still raining, to take the scenic route to Te Anau.
Pictures of car disappearing over the top of Baldwin St. Larnach Castle, Sheep & us on Stewart Island.