Sometimes the best plan is to not have a plan!
We picked up our JUCY van on Monday and began to drive south from Christchurch. We did have some loose plans to drive to Milford Sound and to do a couple of hikes that were recommended. However, everyone has warned us to watch the weather and be flexible.
Rain was predicted for the early part of the week. Keeping this in mind we headed to Oamaru to see the Little Blue Penguins - who apparently don’t seem to care about rain! We’d booked an observation sitting, and arrived early.
Hidden Gem #1 - We noticed that there was an off chance that we could see Yellow Eyed penguins about 5 minutes away, so off we went. We arrived to find a volunteer field naturalist who had spied a penguin! A few minutes more and Paul spotted another coming out of the surf. Exciting! We also had 2 Little Blue’s cross the street right in front of us.
Hidden Gem # 2: When we awoke in the morning the rain was pouring down rain and it was just 8 degrees. We decided to head back north and inland a bit of a driving tour to find some geological features called the “Elephant Rocks”. We also found a whale fossil site that was used in the “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” movie (of course, the tents are long gone!).
After a little thrifting to get some warmer clothes, we headed south toward Dunedin where the weather continued to be less than favourable.
Hidden Gem #3: We decided to continue on from Dunedin and landed at the Gore Motor Camp. The reviews weren’t great, so we were pleasantly surprised to find clean showers, good cooking facilities and wifi for just $10!
Hidden Gem #4: The weather was clearing in Milford Sound for Thursday, so we headed west. On the way we found a very nice hike at Dolamore park. The trees were moss covered and very pretty. The hike ended in a very nice view over the valley.
Hidden Gem #5: The night before our boat tour at Milford Sound put us in a campground at Cascade Creek. We noticed a hike on the map and were pleasantly surprised to find an interpretive trail with some huge 350 year old Red Beech trees and beautiful sounding birds.
Hidden Gem #6: Black Berries! They are ripening and we’ve found two places to forage so far!
