Kelso -Otago

Today we visited Kelso an old abandoned settlement in Otago half an hour north of Gore. The small township was flooded several times and was eventually abandoned in 1980. There is a monument showing the height of the floods and information about the settlement. We visited the local museum in Tapanui where we were able to find more information about the floods, but also found photographs of Kelso Scotland from the 1940's with some pictures of Lindsay's family.

The Catlins

Today we took a trip down to The Catlins in the South East Corner of the South Island. At Nugget Point there is a impresive headland with a lighthouse and a myriad of rocks offshore. At Cannibal bay we took a stroll along the beach, before driving to the Purakaunui Falls reached through a lush forest walk.

Earlier in the week we had some stunning sunsets viewed from our accomodation in Gore.

Invercargill and Bluff

Our first weekend in Gore and we took a drive down to Invercargill and Bluff. Invercargill is the southern most city of New Zealand and the center of a large dairy industry. Didnt manage to find anything too exciting to do there so we made our way to Bluff which is one of the most southerly points of the South Island. We had lunch in a cafe overlooking the Foveaux Straight with views towards Stewart Island.

Gore

We have arrived in Gore which will be our base for the next six weeks. Roger starts work in Gore Medical Centre tomorrow morning. Today we travelled down through Otago form Wanaka through Queenstown to Southland. We have been housed in a very comfortable first floor two bedroomed flat with all mod cons including WiFi; yipee!! and Sky! The only downside so far sees to be that the supermarkets dont sell wine so we will have to source a liquor store, apparently a local law prohibits alcohol from supermarkets. Gore is promoted as the brown trout capital of the world so Lindsay ishoping to ressurect her fishing career.

Fox Glacier, Hass Pass and Wanaka

We are on the move again travelling down to the south, heading for Gore. We stopped off last night at Fox Glacier and tonight we are back in Wanaka. En route we had lunch at the Hass Pass, incidentally the gates of Hass are bounded by Stewart Knob and Lindsay point! Once again we have been blessed with fantastic warm spring weather. There's still lots of snow on the mountains around Wanaka and lake Wanaka looking stunning in the sunshine.