Today started bright and sunny as we left Dunedin for the West. Target was Invercargill, but we had a day in hand as we had decided to give Milford Sound a miss.

Our first stop was the town of Balclutha. I can’t remember why this was on my list. I had noticed the wind had been rising on our journey, a slight skittishness with the van. At Balclutha it was definitely blowing a hooley. Now we had stopped a coffee and cakes were in order along with (for Rosemary) a walk around the local charity shops, mainly the Sally Army in NZ. She bought a pillowcase (eh??).

Back on the road, we passed through Kaka Point and the stopped at Nugget Point. A walk out to the lighthouse showed us the East in sunshine, and the West in grey. The grey of course was steadily advancing our way. This was a good place to visit, loads of seals, in the water and on the rocks, some in very precarious positions. They left us wondering how they could get into these sunny areas until we saw some bounding up the rocks.  Back to the car, we had mainly missed the rain.

Next place was Jack’s Blowhole. A longish walk, and the rain had not yet started. We arrived at the ‘blowhole’, not really a blowhole as we would call it, but still an impressive large hole over the top of a cave.  Now it decided to rain. R was in waterproofs, I was not. I got soaked; R was triumphant, having suggested at the start that I take my waterproofs.

The agenda was now to see Wilkie Lake and the Cathedral Caves. These were driven passed, rain and of course I had not checked the tide for the caves. We stopped for the night at the Whistling Frog Café and Bar which was a renowned restaurant in the region.  I think in the region was the only reason it was award winning, seemed mainly to sell burgers of various varieties, and the only option R wanted was off the menu.  No matter a few beers and a chowder was fine for me, while R ended up with a chicken burger without the bun.  The beers and wine were nice, and R managed a laundry load. Of course, the meal was to save us cooking in their kitchens in the rain. Of course, as soon as we went for our prepranidal drinks in Happy Hour, the sun came out. (Short lived rain showers persisted throughout the night.)

R woke up during the night when a mobile home turned up for the night with lots of banging and shouting. I slept through this, otherwise I would have been really noisy getting up in the morning.