Catlins: South Pole Of My World Tour

I sleep through the night. The villa is too beautiful and nobody is snoring in the 7-bed dorm today. When I wake up, it’s 11am and almost everyone has left. I get ready, take a Berlin woman to her plane to Stewart Island and set off eastwards.

I continue along the coast and soon arrive at Catlins Forest Park. In the 19th century it was practically completely mown down. The last remnants now form the centre of the park. Even before the forest, there are beautiful stretches of coastline. High cliffs, green grass, sheep and windswept tree hedges. The sun is blazing.

A first gravel track detour to the coast. A yellow-eyed penguin basks in the sun on a rock. I pose for a little prank photo next to a mighty sea lion on the beach. The day before, I had weighed myself for the first time on my trip around the world. I lost 10% of my body weight completely unnoticed and certainly not because of too little beer. But even at 90%, I’m almost not fast enough when the 400kg sea lion suddenly starts chasing me. The adrenalin level was certainly higher than bungee jumping.

I then continue on to Slope Point, the southernmost point of New Zealand’s South Island. This is also the South Pole of my world tour. I can’t get any closer to Antarctica: 46 degrees south latitude. From now on I’m heading north again. Mighty waves crash against the black cliffs. Sea spray up to 10 metres high hits the second cliff edge.

There is a storm in Curio Bay a few kilometres further on. I drive to the cliffs. There is a lovely little campsite between the New Zealand flax. Back on the inside of the bay, I immediately unpack my kite, even though the wind is blowing offshore and 300 metres further out the waves are crashing hard on the reef. While I’m still thinking about it, the wind suddenly drops. Probably for the best. I pack up again and make my way to Owaka.

There are always signs along the road indicating nearby waterfalls. I don’t miss any of the five, each time a short walk through the rainforest. After another three hours, I arrive in Owaka, drive to the end of the bay on a gravel track and check into the Surat Bay Lodge.

I walk along the beach until, 50 metres from the lodge, I am almost killed by a sea lion lumbering ashore. He roars at me as if I’ve stolen his space. The shock is deep, so I roar back to calm him down. His female then joins the concert. She is diagonally behind me in the grass on the embankment. I feel quite uncomfortable between the two of them. I pull away.

At the end of the bay is a large sandbank. Four mighty sea lion bulls are roaring over two females. They fight so fiercely that the earth shakes. Meanwhile, the females lie bored in the sunset and are simply beautiful. Somehow the scenery is very human.