South Island | The Catlins | Stewart Island

There is no time to be bored in a world as beautiful as this.

Even though I travel alone, I haven’t spent much time on my own.  It seems like New Zealand is one of those places where most of the people you meet are solo travelers, keen to have a company.

Following the recommendations from Leeyan and Ian, friends from Christchurch, I continued my way to Southland – The Catlins. The area is known for its dreamy sandy beaches & cliffs. If you are lucky enough, you can see dolphins, yellow eyed penguins and seals. But if you are extremely lucky – kiwi (the bird).

Leaving sunny Queenstown driving into cloudy, rainy Southland wasn’t really encouraging at first. After spending a few hours in a comfortable hostel in Corio Bay, the sun finally decided to show up. The same evening, a German friend from Routeburn Track, Lukas, joined me and we decided to explore the Southland together.

We drove all the way to the Nugget Point, very east of The Catlins, waited for a sunset by the amazing lighthouse, looking at huge waves in the distance, observed the yellow eyed penguins and visited Cathedral Cave in a low tide, but extremely windy conditions. The Southland wasn’t South enough for us, so took a ferry to the Stewart Island and did Raikura Track.

Raikura Track is one of the Great Walks. Two days of relatively good forecast gave us enough motivation to hop on the boat. Even though the trip is quite expensive, it is totally worth it. The 32-km long trek mostly follows muddy path in a beautiful forest, but the beachside campsites are a perfect places to take incredible photos. The island is the place where you can see Aurora (Southern lights) in the clear, dark night.

Instead of Aurora, Lukas entertained us joggling with the fire. How cool is that?

| Charging by Pronavitas (GoalZero) |