Day 6 - from Boulders to Lions to Nuggets

In the morning, we head to Moeraki Boulders for sunrise. The rain stopped during the night, and now there are large gaps in the clouds as the first light of the day breaks through.

At this early hour, you can count the number of people at the boulders on one hand. If you want to know more about the formation of these spherical rocks, you can read about it on Wikipedia.

After an intense photo session, we continue to Katiki Point, which is nearby and has a lighthouse. Here, you'll find a large number of seals, who sometimes lie on the narrow path and grumpily hiss at passing humans.

You'll also find their counterparts at Shaq Point, towards Dunedin, where I'll make a short detour.

From Doctors Point, we continue to Dunedin. I wanted to see if I could take a photo of the beautiful train station without a distracting tour bus in the way – and it worked.

After a short detour through the Otago Peninsula, we continue along the Southern Scenic Route to Tunnel Beach. The descent here is much more pleasant than the steep path back up.

The Southern Scenic Route takes me further to Balclutha. And here, I suddenly face the problem of a closed access road to the place where I booked accommodation for tonight.

The road, like many others in the lower part of the South Island, was closed about two hours ago due to flooding caused by yesterday's heavy rains.

When I checked the current road closures on the traffic authority's website in the morning, it wasn't listed. The friendly construction worker informs me that Owaka is currently unreachable.

What do you do in such a situation? Right: you go to the i-Site and try to get some up-to-date information there. The lady tells me that there might be an alternative route, and I should ask the police officer at the highway exit. And indeed, there is a detour via a relatively long but easily drivable gravel road.

This way, I can even visit my last destination before reaching the accommodation: the lighthouse at Nugget Point. Unfortunately, the sky has become overcast with clouds, so the photos don't turn out as well.

Afterwards, we head to the motel, and finally, we have a burger at the local café.