The Catlins | New Zealand

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I’d never been to The Catlins before this month.

But a recent trip to Otago in the South Island of New Zealand had me taking a quick visit to this rain-forest come farmlands come coast and beach. A morning’s outing saw us head down to The Catlins to Florence Hill Lookout, to see the sweeping beach below, the ocean bending away over the horizon, nothing between us and Antarctica. Our angle wasn’t quite right to be able to squint and look for Stewart Island, Florence Hill not quite being on the southern coast, but there is something really awe-inspiring just looking out over the sea to nothing.

Matai Falls is just a short 15-min walk in from the main road, and it’s well worth the stop. There are two cascades, an upper one and a lower one, and while we ventured up to the top one first (not very far), the lower one was a lot more impressive.

The other place we stopped off at was Nugget Point, a spot I didn’t even know existed, with fun rock formations I also didn’t know existed. It’s a winding road through a small town to get to the lighthouse. The car park is about a 10 minute walk from the lighthouse itself, so it’s a nice easy stroll to get to beautiful views over the ‘nuggets’, so called for looking like nuggets of gold. There were also sea lions lounging about down on the rocks, and an active bird life both on the water and above.

I was so nice to be able to explore a place I hadn’t been to before, and get some snaps of the beautiful south. Driving along the coastal road in The Catlins reminded me a little of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia; not perhaps to the same scale, but similar in that there are points of interest all along the road, with waterfalls, rock formations, picnic spots and look outs. If you haven’t been to The Catlins then they’re worth checking out; it’s a wonderful yet crazy mix of forest, farm and sea. I’d love to go back one day and have a proper look.

Have you driven through The Catlins before?