The forecast today was not a classic one – once again it was one of the 200 rain days they get down here, so we decided to go for a drive. On the recommendation of the B&B hosts, we took the southern scenic route towards Invercargill.
The first stop on the way down was at a crossing over the Waiau River called the Clifden Suspension Bridge. Bizarrely it bore more than a passing resemblance to its nearly namesake the Clifton bridge. It was built in 1899 and became the main river crossing for the area, but by 2010 it had to be shut until repairs were completed in 2013.
We only went just beyond Orepuki to a bay called Cosy Nook – a place which really didn’t live up to its name on a day when the wind was blowing hard and the rain driving in. The shape of the trees on the road down to the bay told us everything we needed to know about the weather in this part of the world ….. sculpted by the wind.
From Cozy Nook, we retraced our steps and stopped at a local beach called Gemstone beach – an exposed beach which is renowned for semi-precious gemstones such as: garnet, orbicular jasper, garnet sands, rodinguite quartz, semi nephrite, fossil worm casts, oil shale and elusive sapphire. We may not have known what half of them were, but it was a nice beach to wander along spotting them – at least for the five minutes before hypothermia set in!
A final stop at the Rakatu wetlands (which lived up to their name today) and a short walk there and then back to Te Anau ……
