The Holiday Home was just the right
kind of accommodation for a family – spacious and comfortable. It has three
bedrooms one fitted out with a double bed and the other two with twin beds. The
living room is extremely spacious with two sofas, a few reclining chairs and
has a fireplace for a real family feel. Sufficient car parking, elaborate
instructions on how to use facilities within the house, places of interest and
eating places made our stay really pleasant. Most importantly, the
accommodation is right in the heart of the town centre, yet a bit removed, and
a stone’s throw away from the waterfront. I had been lucky to find this place
after cancelling the accommodation booked earlier; change of dates necessitated
the change.
The Chinese are everywhere. Large
‘hordes’ of visitors were in Milford Sound on buses and cruises. Special food arrangements
are made for them by the Chinese tour companies that invariably organize the
tours. They do get very noisy and ‘fashionable’. Being used to crowds back
home, they are least bit worried about the environment outside their country.
To them, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” is alien. The streets of Te Anau
were no different – restaurants (the Chinese ones – it is uncommon to find them
in other than Chinese restaurants), retail and shopping malls, wherever photo
opportunities exist and everywhere else!
Once the standard breakfast of muesli
and milk was done with we set course for Bluff, which is generally regarded as
the southernmost point of the South Island. We reached Bluff in under two and
half hours without any stops in between. The 190 km drive via Mosburn and
Invercargill didn’t have any scenic places to stop for pictures. Mostly farm
lands and forest, the drive was largely uneventful. Invercargill is the
southernmost city of New Zealand and the world. The city has something of
Scotland in it with most of the streets named after rivers in Scotland. Bluff
was cold and the wind added to the chill factor. We drove into town and parked
near the passenger ferry terminal, which offers regular trips to Stewart Island.
The island is the third largest in the country by size and has seen a few
movements for ‘independence’. The island is also a popular tourism spot for
viewing the Aurora Australis, a geomagnetic anomaly.
Bluff is promoted as the ‘place where
the journey begins’, because SH1 starts from Stirling Point in Bluff and goes
all the way up to Cape Reinga. A signpost at Stirling Point shows the distance
to Cape Reinga as 1401 km – as the crow flies, I presume. The city is also called the ‘Pearl of the
South’ and is home to the world famous Bluff Oyster. The Stirling Point Pilot
Station was established in the 1870s and was functional for more than 70 years.
Near the lighthouse we found a seal on the platform. I tried to go near it
wondering how it had got there because the water was quite far below the
platform. It did get a bit aggressive when I got too close for its comfort. We
presumed that it was either sick or pregnant. When we were in Auckland, Venkat
Raman of Indian NewsLink had told us that it is tradition to pick up a stone in
Cape Reinga and throw it into the waters in Bluff. We had been carrying the
stones from Cape Reinga in the car and from the platform of the lighthouse we
threw them into the sea.
From Stirling Point we drove up the steep Bluff Hill,
called Motupohue. The circular viewing platform gives panoramic views of the
city and the neighboring waters and islands. It was too cold to stay outdoors
there. Even though the temperature was a cool 8 degrees, it felt as if it was
below freezing point. Informative panel boards near the viewing platform talk
of the area being inhabited by humans about 1000 years ago and how other
species of fauna and some flora became endangered, and some extinct like the
flightless Moa, with only the kiwi surviving human assault, due to introduction
of pests and pestilence as well as hunting.
When I was researching the route and
information about the southernmost point in South Island I came across the Slope
Point, which is officially given that recognition. Slope Point lies about 90 km
east and further south of Bluff and took us about 2 hours of leisurely drive
from Bluff. It was a fairly long walk through muddy and slushy grass to reach
the Slope Point signpost which mentions that point as the southernmost of South
Island. The signpost also gives the distance from there to the Equator and
South Pole. There are numerous other viewing areas nearby that provide glorious
views of the sea and beaches, but visitors normally give them a miss. They take
photos at the signpost and vamoose after meandering thereabouts for a while.
The cliffs are awe inspiring and at some points they are slippery. After
spending over an hour there we trooped back into the car. We were all hungry
and ready for a café experience. However, the route we took from the Slope
Point didn’t have any, it looked like. So we ‘feasted’ on chips and wafers till
we spotted the turn off to Curio Bay. However, when we reached the car park no
one had the stomach for another long walk as all the energies had been spent in
Bluff and Slope Point. We sought refuge in the Tumu Toka café and had lovely
cheesecake, caramel slice, raspberry and coconut cake and a tiramisu with
coffee quite leisurely. The Catlins was indeed a wonderful experience from
Fortrose to the edge of Balclutha.
The drive from Slope Point to Dunedin
was pretty straightforward. We covered the nearly 200 km stretch in less than
three hours, giving enough time to Mrs Shukla and Hetal to visit the doll’s
house in Balclutha. It is run by Alexander, who converted his house to accommodate
the donations from various owners of their toys, mostly dolls. The ladies were
full of stories of the exhibits and how Alexander had displayed them all over,
including the garden. On the way to Dunedin Hetal took over the wheels for a
short time. The mature manner in which she handled the car and roads in a
foreign country amazed me, to say the least.
The Wains Hotel is a Victorian-era
building in Princess Street, in the heart of Dunedin. The building is full of
character, which includes the old lift, and the ambience is truly remarkable.
We were allotted very comfortable rooms and a secure car park nearby. After all
that was done we went on a short walk of the main street of the city. The
statue of Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet, on the McMillan terrace was
the first to be ‘discovered’. In the backdrop of the statue are the imposing St
Paul’s Anglican Cathedral and the Municipal Chambers. Behind the two, a short
walk away, is the impressive Town Hall and the two auditoriums. After a long
walk and checking out a couple of restaurants we decided to sup at the India
Gate restaurant. The food was excellent. It was Mango Lassi, Garlic Naan, Kadai
Paneer and Dal Makhni for the vegetarians and Chicken saagwala with rice for
the carnivore. We walked back to the hotel in light drizzle and retired for the
night in the cozy rooms.
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