The Catlins

The Catlins area is almost the furthest south you can go without falling off the edge of the earth. Located at the absolute bottom of the South Island full of beautiful rugged and above all isolated terrain, a few friends and I went for an overnight in this "hidden gem" of the South Island.

It took awhile for me to shake off the feeling during the beginning of our trip that I was in a horror film--all of our mobiles blinked no service as soon as we entered the Catlins. I could hear the tense music start to build as we wound our way through dirt roads, passing seemingly deserted towns and arrived at a huge empty backpacker's with a slightly unnerving owner (he was nice, a little too nice, duhn duhn duhn!). But, no horror stories to tell here, we made it out alive, and happy.

Our main goal of the trip was to see some serious New Zealand wildlife. The Catlins is home to some of the rarest species in the world, including the Hooker's Sea Lion (which we SAW), the Yellow Eyed Penguin and Hector's Dolphin (which we didn't see, although we went to their homes, they were out snacking in the ocean I think), and of course lots of birds and trees and pretty but not as interesting as HUGE SEA LION sorts of things.

The high point of the journey for me (besides making an appearance at the local pub where the entire farming population of Owaka was present and staring as soon as we entered, or stuffing 4 people into a 2 person tent, or the many waterfalls and sea lions we saw, or bush treks we conquered) was our horse trek!!! We stopped off at Ta Taunga Adventures for a 2 hour guided trek before we left the Catlins. Upon arrival we were each matched with horses, well, except for my very small Texan friend who was paired with a pony, much to our amusement. Our ride started through rolling farmland. We herded around cattle and calves, and terrified hordes of sheep as we rode over the organic farm and learned some of the history of the area. There was a slight scare as we plodded out onto the road, and a dirtbike charged past, it added some fast paced excitement to the ride. Once through the road, we climbed our way down onto the beach, the horses slowing as their heavy hooves sank into the sand. It was beautiful splashing through the beach, admiring the waves charge into the bay.

My horse, Racey (Racie? Raceigh? Who knows...) was a bit lazy, and we had a couple close calls on our ride. He was old and would try to walk right behind one of the other horses, with his head resting on their butt, and then fall asleep. To him, this was a flawless idea, because he didn't have to think or look where he was going, and I applaud him for his laziness. However, for me, this meant that I was sent jolting forward every so often as he tripped over something and almost fell. We battled it out a few times for control of where he would walk, I won.

After riding along the beach, we circled back to the farm, this time taking a different way back. Our horses huffed and puffed up an extremely steep hill that we had to zig zag our way up in order to make it. I felt slightly guilty as our horses necks started to darken with sweat, and their breathing get heavier and heavier, but not guilty enough to walk up it myself, that thing was a killer! The view from the top was beautiful. It felt as though we were walking right along the clouds as we looked over the Catlins--farm hills bubbled up from the landscape, misty clouds sank down onto trees, beaches circled houses as the tide crept in. All in all the ride was amazing, and well worth the sore butt I nursed for the next few days.

Less than a week until the Lund family storms New Zealand!!!! Woohoo!!!!

Cheers!