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The Catlins is one of the most isolated areas of New Zealand. Predominantly rural, it contains impressive coastal cliffs and headlands, temperate rainforests, beautiful waterfalls, hidden lakes, and green pastures filled with sheep and cattle. Rugged, remote, and sparsely populated, you can find sea caves, petrified forests, rock stacks, and long, sweeping beaches along the coast. In some places the rainforest reaches to the sea’s edge. In these forests you will find large and ancient trees, including rimu, matai, totara and kahikatea, and you can hear tui, bellbird, fantail, and wood pigeon. Along the coast you may see yellow-eyed penguins, small blue penguins, sea lions, fur seals, and the rare Hector’s dolphin.

We made only one long weekend trip from Dunedin, driving down the coast to Curio Bay. On the way we stopped at the Nugget Point lighthouse, the settlement of Kaka Point, and the Florence Hill overlook of Tautuku Bay, Tautuku Beach/Estuary, and the Tautuku Peninsula to the south, which has the only original native bush growing from hilltop to beach edge. During our stay in Curio Bay we had a nice long walk on the 2 km sandy beach, we explored the fascinating petrified forest (tree stumps and logs from the Jurassic era, 170 million years ago!) that lies just below the cliffs and is exposed during low tide, and we drove to Slope Point, the southernmost point of the South Island, with views of Stewart Island in the distance. Back at Curio Bay we watched the yellow-eyed penguins coming from the sea. From our room we looked directly onto the bay, and on the morning we were leaving, we watched a large pod of Hector’s Dolphins playing just off shore. It was an inspiring sight to see them arching out of the water as they moved up and down the coast looking for food. On our trip back to Dunedin, we visited the Cathedral Sea Caves, McLean Falls, and Lake Wilkie. At the end of the day we spent time at Papatowai, walking along the estuary during a marvelous sunset.