14-15.12. - Day 8-9 - The Catlins 2

Having recovered from the sea lion adventure, we set off the next day to explore new natural attractions.

First, we went to Jack's Blowhole, a hole filled with seawater 200 m away from the sea, created by the constant surf that has tunnelled the underlying rock. The blowhole itself was not really breathtaking (it's just a 55m hole filled with saltwater...), but the approximately one-hour walk there is truly beautiful with its jungle-like landscape of squeaky green sheep pastures combined with cliffs.

In addition, there was bright sunshine, which actually lasted the whole day, which was a stroke of luck considering the more than 200 rainy days in a year.

The second activity was a recommendation from our nice cabin landlord - at this point, a huge thank you to the consistently helpful, incredibly friendly, and simply super sympathetic New Zealanders, you are simply a great people - a half-day tour through a completely untouched, centuries-old mixed forest on a small path through bushes and stones along the Catlins River (Catlins River-Wisp Track).

As a lover of forests, an absolute highlight. You get a great impression of how beautiful and chaotic a forest looks when it is not managed (including countless fallen or occasionally falling live trees). Everywhere a thick floor covering of moss and ferns, very loud and diverse bird singing and actually not a single hiker apart from us. For me, this hike was clearly the highlight so far, solitude and pure nature without any external influences, I actually lack the words to describe this beauty, maybe the photos will convey to you what I mean.

The last activity of the day was a little detour to the 10 m high (or rather low ;-) 'Matai Falls', which were quite directly on our route to our camping site 'DOC Papatowai Campsite', a nice end to the day.

Just finished setting up the tent, the typical continuous rain for the Catlins began again, which would accompany us for the next two days - somewhere the beautiful green of the pastures has to come from - and it cooled down by a few degrees. 5 degrees in the tent with continuous rain, also an experience, at least you know that the down sleeping bag with a comfortable temperature up to freezing point (seller: 'But it's summer in New Zealand') and the packed ski undergarments were worth it...