Catlins National Park

Boy has it been a busy week! I have been so immersed in preparing my flat for.....MY MOM! That's right, my mom flew all the way to New Zealand to visit me! And I had a lot of stuff planned for her! Mom arrived on Thursday morning, and spent most of the day relaxing and getting comfortable in my flat. The next day (Friday) was a tour at the Cadbury chocolate factory. For 20 NZD each, we spent an hour on a tour of the factory learning about the ways they make their various chocolates, like Jaffas (which I'd never heard of) to their regular chocolate bars. We even got to spend some time in the sensory lab putting together our own chocolate creations, not to mention the tour guide gave us tons of free chocolate. You read that right. F.R.E.E. C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E. After leaving Cadbury with our loot, it was off to class for me (boo actually studying while studying abroad).

Some Cadbury facts

An old time candy display

This milk tank truck is from 1919! 

 We closed the evening with a delicious lamb chop dinner and a trip to Rob Roy with a few of my friends from the complex. Mom tried Hokey Pokey, one of New Zealand's best flavors. That brought Friday to a close, now on to the big adventure!

Saturday morning we woke up early to make the hour walk to South Dunedin to pick up our rental car. Mom was a bit wary about driving "on the wrong side of the road". She did........ok. We didn't die so I guess that's the most important part. It was about a 2 hour drive (plus some because we got a bit lost) to the Catlins. Unfortunately we didn't make it as far south as I would have liked as the bridge was under construction to get to Cathedral Caves and Porpoise Bay, and the detour would have taken us too long. Our first stop were the Purakaunui Falls. These were absolutely gorgeous falls! And it was a nice easy walk down there, perfect for the start of our day.

A 20 minute return walk to the falls

Some baby falls we saw on the way

Purakaunui Falls

After Purakaunui Falls, we looped back around on the scenic highway to head toward Matai Falls. Luckily there wasn't much traffic through the afternoon which made driving on the opposite side of the rode much easier. 

A 30 minute return  walk to Matai Falls

Matai Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Our last stop on our mini Catlins tour was Nugget Point. This is home to a lighthouse built in 1869 with 5 small rock islets (The Nuggets) off the coast. If you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of fur seals and the rare yellow-eyed penguin. 

The Nugget Point Lighthouse

The Nuggets

After waiting about an hour and a half we only managed to see a couple of seals, but no yellow eyed penguins We ended the night with a fabulous dinner at The Point Restaurant (I had the pasta of the day - chicken and mushroom fettuccine with carbonara) before driving home. Such a long day sure had us exhausted!