The Catlins
9th-13th February The Catlins
Curio Bay
What Curio Bay campsite lacks in facilities it more than makes up for in the beauty of it's surrounding landscape. You pitch your tent on a spit of land that edges out into the pacific ocean. The spit is narrow enough that turn your head one way you see a massive crescent shaped golden beach, the other way a rugged and rocky stretch of coastline bashed by the waves. It gets better because the crescent shaped beach side has a pod of resident dolphins - spend any five minutes looking out to sea and you'll find them. And they're not shy of human contact either - or putting on a two hour display surfing up the beach in the waves for anybody who cares to watch. A truly amazing experience. We were so transfixed neither of us dared get the camera in case we missed another volley of acrobatics. When I did eventually make a dash for it the
show was nearly over ... hence the lack of photos. There was just as much entertainment on the other side of the spit. The crashing waves would occasionally send up a 50 ft fountain of water up the side of the cliff face. At low tide you could walk across this weird flat rock landscape made up of a forest that was fossilised 180 million years ago. For me the most amazing part is how two totally different landscapes were separated by such a narrow strip of land. I'm only glad we got here before the visitors centre is built. One is on the way in a few years time. i'm sure it's gates will jealously guard this natural treasure from the kind of unfettered access we had. It's probably a good thing but all the same I'm glad we got here first.
Surat Bay
Another am
azing place in the Catlins, Surat Bay is like the best of the British Countryside but right next to the ocean. In the distance we can see sheep grazing in a green field on top of a hill. It could be anywhere in the Lake District. Except at the base of the hill is a massive expanse of golden sand and blue sea. You'd think after all the landscapes we've seen we'd be getting bored but there's always something new to take your breath away. And where we're stood it's the sea lions that are doing that. They are massive, intimidating and unpredictable. Dozens of them appear to be sleeping on the beach and a couple are trying to find some space to swim ashore. When they're lying down on the sand they look pretty harmless. But when they heave themselves up onto their flippers - you start to get pretty nervous. You don't get a proper impression of how big they are from wildlife shows on T.V. The big ones we saw were at least 6 feet tall when propping themselves up. And they've got big teeth .... and we're stood only a 
couple of feet away from a group of about six of them. It appears as if a nearby rampant male has outstayed his welcome .. of course we're guessing, but whatever the reason the group has come to life all of a sudden to try and scare him off. As an observer you start to feel pretty vulnerable. It's high tide so there's only a narrow strip of beach to walk on - so there ain't too many escape routes. (The rest of the beach is littered with more sea lions and there's a huge sand dune behind us.) Fortunately we soon realise - to our great relief - the sea lions couldn't give a stuff about us. Even so, from then on, we decided to keep our distance.
Curio Bay
What Curio Bay campsite lacks in facilities it more than makes up for in the beauty of it's surrounding landscape. You pitch your tent on a spit of land that edges out into the pacific ocean. The spit is narrow enough that turn your head one way you see a massive crescent shaped golden beach, the other way a rugged and rocky stretch of coastline bashed by the waves. It gets better because the crescent shaped beach side has a pod of resident dolphins - spend any five minutes looking out to sea and you'll find them. And they're not shy of human contact either - or putting on a two hour display surfing up the beach in the waves for anybody who cares to watch. A truly amazing experience. We were so transfixed neither of us dared get the camera in case we missed another volley of acrobatics. When I did eventually make a dash for it the
show was nearly over ... hence the lack of photos. There was just as much entertainment on the other side of the spit. The crashing waves would occasionally send up a 50 ft fountain of water up the side of the cliff face. At low tide you could walk across this weird flat rock landscape made up of a forest that was fossilised 180 million years ago. For me the most amazing part is how two totally different landscapes were separated by such a narrow strip of land. I'm only glad we got here before the visitors centre is built. One is on the way in a few years time. i'm sure it's gates will jealously guard this natural treasure from the kind of unfettered access we had. It's probably a good thing but all the same I'm glad we got here first.Surat Bay
Another am
azing place in the Catlins, Surat Bay is like the best of the British Countryside but right next to the ocean. In the distance we can see sheep grazing in a green field on top of a hill. It could be anywhere in the Lake District. Except at the base of the hill is a massive expanse of golden sand and blue sea. You'd think after all the landscapes we've seen we'd be getting bored but there's always something new to take your breath away. And where we're stood it's the sea lions that are doing that. They are massive, intimidating and unpredictable. Dozens of them appear to be sleeping on the beach and a couple are trying to find some space to swim ashore. When they're lying down on the sand they look pretty harmless. But when they heave themselves up onto their flippers - you start to get pretty nervous. You don't get a proper impression of how big they are from wildlife shows on T.V. The big ones we saw were at least 6 feet tall when propping themselves up. And they've got big teeth .... and we're stood only a 
couple of feet away from a group of about six of them. It appears as if a nearby rampant male has outstayed his welcome .. of course we're guessing, but whatever the reason the group has come to life all of a sudden to try and scare him off. As an observer you start to feel pretty vulnerable. It's high tide so there's only a narrow strip of beach to walk on - so there ain't too many escape routes. (The rest of the beach is littered with more sea lions and there's a huge sand dune behind us.) Fortunately we soon realise - to our great relief - the sea lions couldn't give a stuff about us. Even so, from then on, we decided to keep our distance.
posted by Caity Bev at
7:39 PM
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