17th Dec - Papatowai to Invercargill

Woke up early to find Christoph already up reading his book having gone skinny dipping in the river to wake up! Germans :-)

We had breakfast of porridge and banana and packed up and then set off in the car together. It is a lovely thing about traveling that you can just met someone one day and then the next head off with them and just see what happens. As it turned out Christoph was great company and we got on very well.

We stopped off for a short walk to a water fall in the forests and the to a lake. We then took the walk to the most southern tip of the NZ South Island and to another bay where there are often Sea Lions (no luck for us today). It was gray for most of the morning but cleared up by the time we got to the light house on the beach and went for a great 10km run along the sands and then a swim in the sea.

Drove to Invercargill for 4.30 so that Christoph could get his tax sorted for the car and we could have a look round town. Invercargill is very unexciting as a town. I am not that enamored with NZ towns and architecture. We went to the McCafe to use the free internet and get a coffee and muffin for a treat.

I phoned Kerry (Patrick's cousin) about accommodation in Te Anau. She said it would be fine to stay there for a couple of nights and arrive earlier than originally planned. Perfect! It means that I can go hiking ("tramping as they call it in NZ) with Christoph for the next couple of days rather than biking for 2 days from Invercargill to Te Anau. I really want to do some of the NZ great walks while I am here and as I want to get to Milford Sounds and back to Arrow Town for Christmas, I would not have managed many days walking if I had not been traveling with Christoph. We decided to go to Te Anau tomorrow and do a walk on the way :-)

We drove from Invercargill to Bluff and stopped to take photos of the sunset on the way. It is great traveling with someone else that is also really into photography and is also on a very tight budget. The views from the hill in Bluff were great. We could not camp there and so once the sun had gone down we drove along the coast to were we thought we might be able to stop. We drove for what seemed like ages in the dark down an unsealed road. We were just about to give up (as there were only farm houses) when we came to the end of the road and there was a perfect patch of grass over looking the beach.

It was late by the time I got my tent up. We sat and ate beans and instant noodles at 10.45 listening to the waves.... traveling is so much fun. Good day.