South Island Holiday - Manapouri, Bluff, Catlins, and Dunedin

It was a misty morning when we left Te Anau, stopping off at Lake Manapouri, the deepest lake in the country at 1455ft.    The Maori name means "Lake of the sorrowing heart", referring to two sisters whose tears formed the shape of the lake.  Environmentalists   campaigned long and hard between 1969-1972 to prevent raising the lake level 12m to provide more water storage for the power station.  The prospect of irreparable damage to this beautiful lake led to nationwide protests and a huge petition which was presented to the government, and finally led to the scrapping of the project.  The rock and plaque shows the intended new level, if the plan had gone ahead.  Lake Manapouri was saved due to people power.

Lake Manapouri

We all climbed back in the coach and headed down to Invercargill, the second southernmost city in the world.  But first, a trip down to Bluff, (previously known as Campbell town) to get our photos taken at the famous Bluff signpost.  It was a bit of a struggle getting the large coach up the narrow winding road, then squeezing into a car park with all the other tourist cars and campervans who had the same idea.

Made it to Bluff!

A short walk took us to an interesting sculpture.  This anchor chain has a matching piece on Stewart Island, Rakiura, at Lee Bay.  Together, they represent the mythological anchor chain of Maui linking his canoe, the South Island, to it's anchor stone, Stewart Island.

Anchor chain of Maui

Bluff also has a dubious claim to fame.  It was at the restaurant overlooking the Bluff signpost that Covid made its entry into New Zealand while a wedding reception was taking place in April 2020.  79 cases and one death of the guests and staff resulted when an overseas guest brought the virus into the country.  Back then in the early Covid days, there were daily briefings by the Prime Minister and Dept of Health, and Bluff Wedding, as it was called  was the largest Covid cluster in the country.

Our next stop was at the Invercargill Airport to drop off several passengers who were taking an afternoon flight across to Stewart Island.  This was our lunch stop too, and once again, on this South Island trip, I ordered the famous South Island cheese rolls.  I had been trying these at various cafes as we travelled along, and must declare that these were the best!  We stayed the night at a local hotel which was quite a drive out of town, but possibly one of the nicest we had been to.  

The next day was a very full day indeed, took us through the Catlins, which certainly brought back plenty of memories.  We stopped at Waipapa Point, a coastline known for native sea lions and the historic 1884 lighthouse.    I didn't see and sea lions myself, but some of the more hardy passengers who walked further than me certainly did.  It was a beautiful, wind swept place, and we were lucky it was a fine sunny day.

Waipapa Point

The coach stopped at Owaka for lunch, which is the largest community in the Catlins area.  In saying that, it is really quite a small place.  There was a large shop/showroom with all sorts of things for sale, and the owner had free coffee and  biscuits available for the coach passengers.  Some of of took advantage of this kind offer, sat down at the tables, made our drinks and nibbled on a biscuit or two.  Others decided to try the other couple of eating places around.  I purchased some candles to take home, I like to light a candle in the evenings for Robin.   I was reminiscing about the wonderful teapot display in a lady's front yard that we admired previously.  Sadly the lady had died, the old house is derelict, and the tea pot tree is no more, the shop owner told me.  But luckily, I found some photos from the blog post I had written way back in 2012 to show you what it was like.  There were teapots galore outside, and some in the window of her house.

Teapot Land, 2012

Then we all settled back to enjoy the ride to Dunedin.  The first Scottish migrant ships were sponsored by Free Church of Scotland, and set sail in 1847.  The aim was to establish a new Edinburgh in the Pacific.  The community was eventually named Dunedin, the ancient name for Edinburgh.  The discovery of gold in the 1860s generated rapid growth and wealth, and a building boom of expensive buildings.

Coming into Dunedin

Our day of sightseeing wasn't over, and the coach pulled up outside Olveston House.  That was exciting, I hadn't been here before, although we took many trips to Dunedin over the years.  Olveston House was built in the Jacobean style for the wealthy Theomin family in 1906, and was bequeathed to the city in 1966.

Olveston House

We were given a guided tour through this fabulous home.  The wealthy owners took many overseas buying trips, and the house is full of their treasures.

Inside Olveston House

That was certainly a big day, and we were pleased to arrive at the hotel and relax.  It was nice to know that we were staying for two nights here.    Mind you, there were busy times ahead for us in Dunedin.