Invercargill to Dunedin

First stop for the day: a flock of sheep on the move.

Sheep have priority passage

Second stop: Fortrose, for coffee. Fortrose is on an estuary and apparently White Bait fishing, whitebaiting, is a popular pastime because on a paddock next to one creek nearby there were dozens of small cabins. We had to ask what they were. Apparently there are regulations that must be complied with but it still looked a bit random.

Whitebaiting huts, Fortrose

Driftwood, Fortrose. Where has it all come from?

We then moved on to Waipapa Point where we found a sea lion playing in the shallows below a beautiful lighthouse.

Varied Oystercatcher

Waipapa Point lighthouse

Sea Lion

Sea Lion

Lush grass, dairy cows and an approaching storm.

As a storm approached us the light continually changed on the rolling hills and the sky grew more dramatic. We drove in to Slope Point where the high cliffs were awe-inspiring.

Sloping trees at Slope Point.

Slope Point

Cliffs at Slope Point

At Curio Bay we stopped for lunch at the cafe before walking out to see the petrified forest on the rock shelves exposed at low tide. The pamphlet said they are 180 million years old. It's also a great spot to see Little Penguins and Yellow-eyed Penguins but not in the middle of the day.

Petrified forest at Curio Bay

Curio Bay. There are penguins nesting here but the chicks were safely in their burrows and the adults out to sea.

Curio Bay

Tautuka Estuary. 

At Tautuka Estuary there's a fantastic boardwalk and we went there to because it's a hotspot for the Fernbird but we missed on seeing it. Apparently it's a shy bird. But we can recommend the tomato soup at the Whistling Frog cafe nearby. The best tomato soup ever. We arrived too late for the lunch menu but they served us the soup anyway. And I defy anyone to drive past a cafe called Whistling Frog. [Apparently there is a Whistling Tree Frog in the area but we haven't heard any frogs since we arrived.]

All of the above took all day and we had to miss several other spots and head straight for Dunedin and our booked accommodation. Every bend in the road revealed beautiful views of farmland and rolling hills and the storm that had threatened all day finally hit us as we approached Dunedin. We had a wonderful day and added a few more birds to our New Zealand list. Over 50 species now.