Catlands and Dunedin

The Catlands is a natural reserve in the South Island along the southern coast. The reserve is littered with beautiful waterfalls and natural streams. Mclean Falls below was one of the larger falls nestled deep in the forest. We took a short 30 minute hike to visit this one.
Denise and I spent some time here, exploring a bit and hiking around the falls.
It was a fairly rugged area as you can see. Denise was brave to be standing at the edge!
The next set of falls we visited was one of the most photographed in New Zealand, Purakaunui Falls. We have seen it in a bunch of photo books about New Zealand and we were happy to get our own original Purakaunui Falls picture.

By the time we arrived at Purakaunui Falls dusk was setting in, so we decided to find a place to camp for the night. Up to this point, the campsites we chose were absolutely fantastic, unique ,and picturesque. This evening was no exception. New Zealand does not disappoint in the category of beautiful and picturesque, and our campsite that night was one of my favorites. We drove our little camper van up the hill to the area overlooking the beach. I suppose getting up the hill was an adventure on its own. By the time Denise could get out the words "do you think we can make it up the hill", I was full throttle, white knuckled, and hoping like hell the van would not get stuck in the mud. PS, don't tell the camper van rental company, it might void our rental agreement.......

Anyway, the gamble to brave the muddy road up the hill payed off in full! We watched the Moon rise over the limestone cliffs that night. It was awesome!

The next morning was equally spectacular with the sun cresting over the horizon. That morning we headed up the east coast to Nugget Point. Nugget Point is home to a light house and a series of enormous boulders bulging out of the ocean. The boulders provide a comfortable home for heaps of seals as well.

Onward we went up the coast to Dunedin, a good sized city originally settled by Scottish settlers.
We walked around town for the day, popping in and out of coffee shops and cafes.

Dunedin, as I said before, was founded by Scotsmen. Early on in the cities development, the planners decided to emulate the Scottish city of Edinburgh, right down to the layout of roads and the names that were given to those roads. As a result of grafting Edinburgh's road map onto the rugged landscape of the South Island of New Zealand, Dunedin is home to the steepest road in the world.

Trust me, it was steep..!

Dunedin is also home to the Speights brewery, who's motto is "Pride of the South." We stopped by the brewery to take a tour, and were amused by the signage....
The tour was really good. The picture below is of the original brewery equiptment with the copper kettles and mash tuns used back in the day. Speights still uses the original equipment to make special batches of beer every now and again.

We had another day of beautiful weather, and we decided to head out to the peninsular just outside the Dunedin city limits. We stopped at Larnoch Castle, the only castle in New Zealand, paying way too much money for the tour of the castle interior. But we were allowed to climb up to the castle tower and snap a few photos. The view was breathtaking.
I think at that point we had exhausted all we wanted to do and see in Dunedin, and started to head out of the city, further up the east coast. By the time the sun started to set, we were getting a bit nervous about a place to settle for the night. Luckily in New Zealand, they have what is called 'freedom camping', in which you can pick a spot along side the road and stay for the night without charge or harrassment. Our freedom camp was right on the beach..... Below is a picture of the moon popping over the horizon. I love this place......!