After stopping off at Bluff we headed back up to Invercargill where we could join the road to the Catlins Coast.

This coastline was very rugged and so a refreshing change from the South Island's alpine and rural scenery.

Our first stop on the coast was at Waipapa Point, where we were supposed to be able to see the rare Hookers sea lion. We got out of the car and stumbled up to the Lighthouse near the edge of the cliffs, it was really windy. At this point we couldn't see any sea lions so walked further down the path so we could look over the edge. To our surprise or should we say fright, there was actually a sea lion just layed across the path in front of us. At first we thought it was dead or something as we didn't really expect the sea lion to be away from the beach on the coastal path. However, we saw a flipper move and so legged it. We had just read a sign warning not to go near them as they have a nasty bite, so we were back in the car like a bullet.

Slope Point was our next stop, which apparently is actually the most southern point in the South Island of NZ and not Bluff, as everyone is told. Well of course this meant that another picture of the trademark signpost was essential. We took a few quick snaps and headed off again.

The next place we stopped was Curio Bay. When we arrived we were able to see a petrified subtropical forest of stumps and trunks that dated back 160 million years. When reading about this in our guide book it sounded quite boring but it was actually quite cool. We walked onto the beach where the trees were and when we touched them they still felt like wood. Apparently this is one of the most extensive fossil forests in the world. Whilst looking at the trees we had a nice surprise. The rarest penguin in the world (the yellow eyed penguin) actually popped out of the water and woddled onto the beach. It came really close so we got a great view. There were only supposed to be about 20 in the area so we were quite pleased with our sighting.

Our final stop was Nugget Point. This is a steep cliff which has a lighthouse and overlooks several jagged rock stacks that are supposed to be homes for elephant seals, seals, sea lions and penguins. Unfortunately when we were there we only saw seals but we didn't really mind as we felt lucky to see the yellow eyed penguin at the last stop.

After completing the Catlins Coast we headed north to Dunedin, the home of Cadbury's and Speights brewery needless to say we were looking forward to that!