Nugget Point to Curio Bay

We had a wonderful Saturday this weekend. After a bit of a lazy morning we headed out to drive part of the Southern Scenic Route along the East Coast of the South Island. (There is a slide show at the bottom - to see full size pics, just click on the slide show.)

We headed for Kaka Point to start our trip. We stopped at a dairy and bought some chicken & fries and headed to the beach for lunch. We had some birds joing us for lunch, they enjoyed a few french fries. We walked on the beach and Sam went in. Abby started a new shell collection here too.

From there we headed down to Nugget Point. Nugget Point is on a nature reserve. We walked to a place called Roaring Bay, named after the winds that whip into the bay off of the ocean. Roaring Bay is home to yellow-eyed penguins, sea lions and seals. We didn't see any, we where there the wrong time of the day. We did stand in a blind that they have built for people to see the penguins in the dusk as they are coming in from the ocean and climbing the cliffs to their nesting grounds. From here we went further into the reserve, as far as we could drive and then walked out to Nugget Point's light house. It was quite a walk along the edge of the ocean. Abby was not very comfortable with the steepness of the cliffs along the path. It was quite windy when we made it to the light house. Windy enough that Sam & I could lean into the wind and be supported. The bay and point were named after the rock "nuggets" that are in the ocean along the shoreline.

From here we headed back on the road and drove along the coast. We stopped and walked through some a beautiful forest to see the Parakanui Waterfalls. Just an amazing forest, smelled like nothing we smelled before. Giant ferns were scattered along the walkway and the creek meandered back and forth through the rock. The falls were spectacular, not sure our pictures do it justice.

Some more driving and then we stopped at the beach again. This time it was at Te Tuku Beach. Lots of sand, waves and more shells. By this time it was getting later and we needed to head straight for Curio Bay - we heard that there were penguins there.

Just about 6pm we arrived at Curio Bay and found out that there were penguins there. One was hanging out on a rock which the penguin protection guy, he reminded us of Dwight from The Office, said was unusual. We found out that there were 10 adult penguins that nested there and they would be coming in around 7:30. We headed into a public campground nearby to use the toilets and look for some food. There was a small snack shop but the most particular of our family gave it a thumbs down. We bought a couple of bags of chips and went back to wait for the little tuxedo wearing birds. It was a long wait but in the end we saw six of the ten penguins. The pictures of the penguins are not great, we hope to have a camera with a larger zoom in the next week or so. It won't be the last time that we go see the lovely little birds.

After we left Curio Bay we realized that we had not very much gas and quite a distance to go. Samantha was fairly sure that we would be spending the night in the car but before long we stumbled upon some gas pumps open late. We got filled up and on the way again. We had a late bite to eat in Invercargill before we headed home.

The things we are seeing are truly amazing. They are awe-inspiring and breath-taking. We are all loving this adventure.