Day 79: All the Way Down South

One of the fun games to play while on the road and passing through many towns is attempting to figure out how they are pronounced. Unless you hear a local say the name it is unlikely that I will ever know how many of the places we passed through are pronounced but I am just fine with that. Keeping some mystery in life keeps it interesting.

We spent the night in a random picnic area with a massive tree right in the middle of clearing that looked like a tear drop. It kept us fascinated for quite some time and imagining all the things it could be with the moonlight highlighting the outline of the tree. I have never seen a tree shaped so perfectly like that before. In the morning we drove towards Tuatapere and came across Clifdon caves. We of course stopped and explored. We had the caves to ourselves for the most part. There were amazing stalagmites and stalactites AND glow worms. Such incredible creatures. The cave unfortunately had a lot of vandalism in it which was really sad. You could see the degradation from it all. Very sad actually and infuriating. Some people just have absolutely no respect for nature.

We next found Clifden's Suspension Bridge, built in 1898 over the Waiau River. Nothing spectacular but it holds the name of New Zealand's longest suspension bridge still in existence. Surprisingly enough it does not also hold the "most unique longest suspension bridge" as well.

Because I get it in my head that I always have to stop and see things everywhere I go. So Blue Cliffs Beach was next on our list of stops. It was a very beautiful area. We had to trudge through poo laden pastures, 3 to be exact, over extra muddy and wet ground from all the recent rain, ensuring we closed all the gates as we passed through to get to the actual beach. It was worth it, for me at least, I was wearing footwear that did not matter if it got wet. My dear friend was unfortunately wearing his shoes that seemed to never be able to dry...And even with the insane amount of attacking beastly sandflies. Still worth it. Always worth it.

On to Monkey Island, our perfectly timed and randomly found free campsite, surrounded by beautiful farmland and complete with a gorgeous view. According to the signs at the site it is called Monkey Island apparently monkeys were used back in the day to pull in the boats carrying the cargo to shore. Now, I am not sure how true this story is as it sounds rather far fetched but if New Zealand is willing to post it on a sign then there must be some truth to it. Monkey Island itself was said to be used as a lookout by whalers looking for their next catch. Not the biggest lookout to find whales if you ask me. 

THEN we went to Bluff, which we thought was the most south we could get but we were mistaken. We went to the Maritime Museum in Bluff, which turned out to be more interesting than thought. We had to rush through 3/4 of the place because they closed early. Slope Point is the southern most point of of the South Island. We made a very quick stop there because the place was crawling with tourists.