The tour of the factory was a little bit of a let down. I had imagined it would be like the episode of the Simpsons, when Homer visits some kind of Candy World (I need my favourite skinny animator to confirm this) and eats everything in site, dogs, houses, lampposts, everything. Well I thought Cadbury's would at least have bowls of chocolate and the odd Umpa Lumpa. Unfortunately, the guide was a woman in her 60's who only seemed to give chocolate to small children. I think I came away with 4 chocolate bars, which considering the entry fee is pretty poor. After a good night out with Iain and Sarah, I set off on the next leg of the "Bottom Bus". Jason wouldn't be my driver, but he had told me more people may join the tour. He was wrong. Kim collected me from Manor House at 7am, so we could start the two hour drive to the Catlins nice and early. Naturally I had my reservations about being the only person on the tour, but thankfully Kim is a really guy and struck the right cord, of being friendly but still informative. The day before Kim had taken tourists on a tour of the Catlins and it had poured with rain the whole day and they hadn't seen any seals, sea lions or penguins. He hoped today would be better. The Catlins are one of New Zealand's best hidden treasures. It's an area of natural bush, rugged coastline, antarctic waters frequented by sea lions and penguins and wild fauna, waterfalls, petrified forests and spectacular nature trails. Kim explained to me for many years the Catlins was only ever frequented by those living in or around Dunedin, looking for a weekend get away. But word is getting out and the Catlins are starting to appear in all the obvious guidebooks, but hopefully the local council will find a way to deal with the extra tourists, without spoiling the natural beauty of the area. Our first stop was at a lovely pub/cafe at Kaka point for a hot drink before we headed to the world's most southern lighthouse, at Nugget Point. The vertical lines on the land show the incredible pressure beneath the surface to create the land. Kim explained the lines would have originally run horizontal, would the incredible force had turned them. 
The lines on Nugget Point 
Kaka Point As you can tell from the photographs the weather at first didn't look very promising, but we were in fact very fortunate, as the sun broke through the clouds later in the day. Kim then drove to Cannibal Beach. He explained it got the name, when European sailors found human skulls on sticks as either a warning or from a ritual, planted into the sand. Thankfully we found a handful of tourists on the huge expanse of sand and a sea lion taking a nap in the reed at the edge of the sand. Kim explained it's important to keep one's distance from a sea lion, they can easily out run a man and inflict a nasty bite. Kim said it was okay to sneak up on the sleeping sea lion for a photo, but if it stirred slowly walk backwards. 
Sleeping giant
Sea Lion with his flipper in the air.
I jumped back onto the beach, in time to witness another male sea lion coming out of the sea. Kim had explained the population on the South coast is very small because hunters drove the sea lions away and they only started to return 40 or so years ago. Most of the sea lions remain on the islands further south. But there are now seven females who make the trip to the South coast to breed.We watched the amazing spectacle of the sea lion coming ashore. They can be dangerous, but we felt safe as there was an old man watching close by too, who the sea lion would surely catch before either of us. From Cannibal Bay we continued to make our way further into the Catlins. At Surat Bay I was lucky enough to spot one of the female sea lions watching her growing cubs take a swim. Kim had told me earlier how sometimes the sea lions eat rocks and he'd once witnessed a sea lion being sick. Kim explained they bang their stomachs on the beach over and over, until they are finally sick. I couldn't believe when around around corner I spotted a male sea lion banging his huge stomach on the beach. It was quite unpleasant when he finally threw up, while shaking his head from side to side so it went everywhere. We drove further along the coast. It was great being the only passenger, I was able to ask loads of questions and I felt like I got to know Kim. He told me how he was born in Scotland and moved to New Zealand when he was ten. When his new school friends asked him if he wanted to play football he was delighted, until they threw a rugby ball at him. After a lunch stop we drove to Purakaunui Falls. Kim parked the minivan and then we took the trail down to the falls. Kim was able to identify all the birds we could here singing loudly up above. It's hard to imagine the news of the birds in New Zealand when the first explorers, Maori or European arrived. Birds in New Zealand, like in Hawaii had no natural predators. That's how flightless birds like the Kiwi evolved, they had no need for wings.
Kim also took some time to show me native trees, that are now protected. Before Europeans arrived in New Zealand, the most common plant was Flax. Maori's used it for practically everything. Making rope, clothes, a broth and as a natural defense against the weather. Okay I'm not sure they actually made a broth from it, before I didn't have enough examples. I'm sure it would be a tasty broth. This first day tour of the Catlins would be the longest. To see the penguins comes ashore at Curio Bay we would need to wait until around 5.30. After that we had an hour drive to Invercargill. As soon as we arrived at Curio Bay we spotted a yellow-eyed penguin a native of New Zealand. The penguins are extremely shy and if you get too close they panic and freeze. Although I wanted to see this, as it sounds so cute, I realised it would amount to cruelty to penguins, so we kept our distance. The penguin was up on a hillside. Kim explained they can jump to their own height and have surprisingly strong legs. The bay is made up of a 180 million year old petrified forest. It's easy to make out the giant tree trunks, now rock, that form the base of the bay. We crouched down low and watched another three penguins in the bushes. Unfortunately we didn't see any make there way out of the sea. But I felt lucky to have seen so much, especially knowing yesterday Kim had struggled to find any penguins or sea lions. We arrived in Invercargill around 8pm. Kim had explained to me this is where Burt Monroe had raced his Indian motorbikes along the beach. If you haven't seen the film, The World's Fastest Indian, check it out.
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