The Catlins

Tired from hiking, we slept in the next morning (until about 8 o'clock). After a relaxing breakfast, we continued south, passing Invercargrill, to a coastal region called the Catlins. We stopped briefly at a beach for lunch and then drove on to Curio Bay. There you can observe yellow-eyed penguins, but we were too early and the penguins were still out at sea fishing. Our next stop was Cathedral Cave, a horseshoe-shaped cave by the sea that can only be visited at low tide. However, we discovered that waves still reach the cave and you can get wet (in our case, more of a woman thing). With dry pants, we continued to McLean Falls. It was beautiful, but we had already seen so many waterfalls recently that it didn't impress us much. For an aperitif (and to reserve our spot), we drove to a simple campsite in a bay near Purakaunui. Before dinner, we visited another yellow-eyed penguin colony. But they weren't ready to come home yet, and we were hungry, so we drove back to the campsite without seeing any penguins.

On Tuesday, we visited another waterfall (Purakaunui Falls). After admiring and photographing it, we headed to Nugget Point. At this lighthouse, you can see sea lions from a distance. Since we had seen enough waterfalls and sea lions/seals, we drove directly to Dunedin. There you can see and experience the steepest street in the world. I had just woken up from my nap in the car, so my experience was accompanied by my whining. In the afternoon, we took a tour to an albatross colony on the Otago Peninsula. The royal albatrosses enjoyed the windy day and could be admired both in the air and on the ground. It was a great spectacle of little chicks in nests, birds looking for partners (bird Tinder), and parents returning with food.
The rest of the day was dedicated to doing laundry and cooking.