Dulcie had had enough of the cold and damp so we set off with the roof up and headed to our Southernmost point of our journey, the end of Highway 1 at Bluff. There we took the obligatory photos and then turned the car round to head home - the long way. I turned off the main road to do the Catlins highway that has now been sealed all the way. It’s a narrow twisting road, starting on the marshy flat wetlands and then heading towards the coastal hills. The road cuts through the park, missing out on a lot of the coastal scenery with only a few glimpses of the sea, the real heart of the Catlins lies down the gravel roads around the coast and into the bush. Still it was nice to put the spider through the twisty bits and to hear the tuis and other birds calling to each other through the forest canopy. We rejoined Highway 1 at Balclutha before making a gravel detour from Waihola down to Taieri Mouth and along the coast road past Brighton beach to Dunedin.
We stayed with my friends Alistair and Sharon, had New Year’s Eve at the Octagon and rode the Taieri Gorge railway to Middlemarch on New Year’s Day. The local cats enjoyed the lovely black canvas hammock that had appeared in the driveway, dozens of muddy paw prints over the bonnet and cat hair all over the roof was proof of it’s popularity.
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