CLOSING THE LOOP

The lesser-travelled winding coastal route between Invercargill and Dunedin passes through the enchanting Catlins. Stretching from Waipapa Point in Southland to Nuggett Point in South Otago, this is a coastline of sweeping wildlife-filled bays with exceptional views on which we joined a small touring group for a day of exploration.

Endangered Hectors Dolphins and Hoiho, the yellow eyed penguin will be spotted by a lucky few whilst sealions and seals are abundant on the beaches and offshore. It was on the beach at Waipapa Point that we had an encounter with a sealion that was basking on the beach. He was absolutely huge, lying on his back in the sun and he just opened an eye and raised a flipper before going back to sleep whilst another kept an eye on us from the water nearby. We had been warned beforehand that whilst it is safe to approach seals and sealions to within a distance of 10 metres, we should never stand between them or the sea as it is their escape route and also never to turn our backs on them - they have a good turn of speed and a nasty bite if the mood took them. Soft drizzle was falling by the time we arrived at Porpoise Bay where a small pod of Hectors Dolphins was swimming around a bunch of surfers. Our guide told us that they are curious little creatures who like to swim and play very close to the shore around swimmers and paddlers. A girl already on the beach had obviously heard the same story and was busy stripping down to her underwear as we arrived. In she waded, in the wind and the rain and just as she dunked under ... the dolphins turned and swam off! She was later spotted, shivering and clutching a mug of tea in the caff on the clifftop - sans underwear no doubt.

At Curio Bay we walked across part of a fascinating 160 million year old petrified forest. The logs and stumps had been perfectly preserved exactly where they fell and the rings in the trunks were clearly visible. It looked exactly as if a storm had blown through just the night before, but fossilised species in the area indicate that it dated back to the time that NZ was part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland and was attached to somewhere like India or South America before it broke up and bits drifted off in different directions.

Following a bit of exercise with a scramble up to the pretty McLean Falls, our last stop was at the lighthouse on the cliffs at Nuggett Point. When the sun shines on the rocky outcrops around the headland here, they shine with a soft golden glow, giving the place its name. Although we couldn't see the seal colony on the rocks below us, we were in no doubt of their presence as the wind blew a distinctly fishy whiff up to the clifftop!

One last ditch attempt at spotting a yellow-eyed penguin took us to a hide above Roaring Bay. Incredibly shy birds, they come ashore after a days fishing about an hour before dusk and hop up the incredibly steep cliffs to their nests. Other people came and went within five minutes but we persevered and within half an hour I saw something darting across a wave near the shore - a penguin! It stood by the waters edge and was quickly joined by another. They both had a good look around before starting to waddle their way across the beach like a pair of old pensioners then they disappeared into the undergrowth at the foot of the cliff and we caught glimpses of them as they hopped effortlessly up the cliffs to their nice warm nests for a night in front of the telly.

And so we arrived at Dunedin for an overnight stop before completing the loop and arriving back at Christchurch. On the outskirts of 'Edinburgh Downunder' we stopped at an increasingly popular NZ phenomenon - a shoe fence! It only takes one pair of shoes to be tied to a fence for a couple of hours in the middle of nowhere before it is joined by another, then another, then before you know it there are hundreds of them for no reason at all. This 50m length of fence had a fine selection of footwear, old and new, hanging from it. There were trainers, high heels, boots, slippers, flipflops - you name it. It was as much as Marc could do to stop me trying on a nice pair of strappy sandals!

There used to be a bra fence just outside Wanaka a few years ago. Apparently it was a wonderful sight - a rainbow of colours fluttering in the wind that was the subject of media attention worldwide. Men would post bras to the town post office from all around the country requesting that they be hung in memory of wives they had lost and the fence raised a lot of money for charity. Alas someone complained that it was in bad taste and after a storm in a D Cup, the farmer was ordered to strip the fence on the grounds that it had no planning permission! He did so reluctantly, after mastering the Art of the Clasp ...