Off to Invercargill...via Manapouri, Tuatapere and all spots in between. We had a gloomy start so the following picture of Lake Manapouri is courtesy of the local tourist office. We had a coffee stop here and chatted to a young French woman who was the local barrista. What a gal - at the end of her working visa here in NZ she plans to crew on a yacht leaving for wherever...she's travelling for another two years and with solid sailing experience adventure awaits her.
We didn't stop in Tuatapere which is allegedly the sausage capital of New Zealand but it's a groovy little rural town and quite a few cafes to boot.
Next stop Clifden suspension bridge. At one time this was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It was built in 1899 and a feat of engineering and the unbelievable fact is it only took ten months to build back then. It's claim to fame was quickly overtaken by much bigger suspension bridges around the world but it still stands and can be walked over by foot traffic only. What a spot!
Ah, back to the coast and the roaring surf. This is probably about as west as you can get and the surf was pounding.
We had to stop at Monkey Island beach as just a few days ago there had been a sighting of an Antarctic penguin, the Adelie penguin, here. It was a long way from home, approximately 4,854 ks back in Antarctica. The little parking spot in Monkey Bay was quite busy with penguin spotters but no penguin to be seen. Very nice little bay to visit.
This coast has so many lovely little beach spots to explore. We skipped Gemstone Beach but made a stop at Colac Bay.
Colac Bay is a gorgeous little horseshoe bay with a few baches dotted along one edge. The local pub looked to be busy serving coffees and the rain had stopped - bliss.
Our last beach side stop before we hit the big smoke of Invercargill was Riverton. We could see a big weather front approaching so we stopped for lunch while the sun was still trying to shine and admired the river estuary and little fishing boat harbour. Riverton is taking off with a lot of new builds and the little harbour and estuary are stunning, even in questionable weather. We loved it!
After what felt like a day of driving we arrived in Dunedin and hit the pavement. Fabulous walk around the city admiring the wonderful architecture. There are so many wonderful buildings and it is great to see them being restored and integrated into the new city design. Invercargill looks promising so there is more exploring to do tomorrow. It's certainly improved since my last visit about 15 years ago.
In amongst the wonderful old architecture are some stunning street murals on the walls of buildings.
Some not so creative shop names...
My favourite mural on the side of a two story building - a kittycat of course!
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