Here is a picture that Natalie took of the side of the road during the drive -- typical New Zealand.



This is a photo from a lookout off the side of the highway -- not too shabby.



Above is a shot of McLean Falls, one of the two waterfalls we saw on Saturday. The next several photos are from Cannibal Bay and our visit with the sealions - quite a cool spot.






And finally, if you're reading this, chances are that I'm missing you.


My friends, Whitney, Natalie, and I took a mini-road trip this weekend. We left Friday afternoon for the Catlins, a gorgeous area about 2 hours south of Dunedin. My wonderful "kiwi host", Kate, graciously lent us her car after giving me a brief driving tutorial (and adding me to her insurance plan) and we were on our way. Luckily, the NZ roads are fairly isolated, leaving the main distractions to the sheep on either side of the road and the gorgeous views in every direction. The other beauty of New Zealand is that there are very few highways -- and by highways, I mean two-lane roads with little traffic, thus making it easy to leave for a trip with no directions - zilch, nadda, zippola. To add to the excitement, we had no hostel booked, campsite reserved, or any other form of lodging for the night -- clearly the ritual of leaving every weekend and the burden of planning that goes along with it is beginning to take a toll on us.

New Zealand is well-marked and has frequent signs for lookouts, bays, etc. to turn off on along the way. With no clear destination, we decided to take advantage of all that we could. We turned off to go to Kaka Point (mainly because of the name) -- after about 5-10 minutes of driving on gravel roads, we turn around the bend only to find a breathtaking view of an absolutely deserted beach. You go, Kaka Point.

Our next stop was another spontaneous turn to Cannibal Bay. And yet again, after a few kilometers of unpaved road, we reached another gorgeous, deserted beach...or so we thought. At this point, it was getting close to sunset so we decided to have a picnic dinner on the beach. About ten minutes after we dug in to our food (the only planned portion of our trip - we have our priorities right), I noticed an animal several feet down the beach. After walking closer, we proceeded to find about 15 sealions enjoying a nice Friday afternoon. Let me tell you -- they're bigger than you would think and they also have quite a loud grunt. Nonetheless, another memorable NZ experience to add to the books.

We decided to park and spend the night in the car just a little ways off from the beach. Looking back, Friday's night sleep might be the most uncomfortable I have ever endured -- but again, another NZ experience.

We woke up Saturday to another gorgeous day. After cleaning up at a local gas station, we made our way down the road again to more gorgeous views and a couple short hikes to waterfalls before making our way back to Dunedin -- another weekend well spent in New Zealand.

XOXO.