The chilly bottom of New Zealand.

Jen noted that there hadn't been anything that really appealed to her about Invercargill the last time we were here. Naturally, I set about pointing out anything remotely positive that could be linked to the place in a gratingly obvious fashion.

Invercargill Water Tower - no longer functional,
and too risky for tours, but looks just dandy all the same.

A little deflated from not locating an authentic Kiwi bakery at Arrowtown, Jen undertook a google search on nearby bakeries - and Bakers Beyond showed up with some good reviews. Our mission was to pick up some things for morning tea (later on in the day while on the road). The ladies at the bakery were a smidgen confused by our almost giddy enthusiasm in picking things out.

Bakers Beyond - in downtown (you guessed it) Invercargill.

We also managed to find a petrol station that was at least 10 cents a litre cheaper than everywhere else we've been - I was almost disappointed that we only needed half a tank.

During our preparations in the morning, some of our planned stops along the Catlin Coast had to be scratched due to low tide not lining up with us (a submerged Cathedral Caves didn't sound that inviting). On the up-side, this allowed us the opportunity to re-visit Queens Park before setting off from Invercargill (it was the clear highlight of our last trip here). Queens Park is considered the jewel in the heart of Invercargill (not particularly cardiovascularly sound if you ask me) and features around 80 hectares of gardens, trees and lawns.

The Park included a Rose Garden, several duck ponds, a Japanese Garden, as well as something mysteriously known as The Stumpery. Our primary destination was, however, the Children's Playground.

Merry-go-rounds - why did we ever get rid of these from Australian playgrounds?

Oh right...

Oversized hamster wheel was quite the hit (Josh face-plant incoming).

Fountain dedicating the space to children.

The place was as delightful as we remembered - one of the better gardens I've been to anywhere, and worth a visit to Invercargill on its own. I still have no idea what a Stumpery is though...

We fare-welled Invercargill and made our way along the Southern Scenic Route towards Slope Point (which is the actual southern-most point on the New Zealand mainland). The kids were exposed to a bunch of fairly dated music (think early 90s - including The Rembrandts) by way of a local FM Radio Station - The Edge. I'm pretty sure I saw them ram their earphones even further into their ears. 

We decided to place some trust in Google Maps - and were almost immediately directed onto the only gravel road in the vicinity. The lack of grip on the serpentine path of gravel was enjoyed by no one, before re-joining the actual, sealed road just prior to Slope Point itself. The path to Slope Point is through a local farmer's paddock - the lack of any vegetation or undulations before hitting the southern ocean made for a fairly windy landscape. To be fair, the kids seemed more interesting in attempting to befriend some nearby (and clearly indifferent) cows, that any southern-most thingy.

There were a couple of waterfall walks on the agenda, prior to making our way to Nugget Point and then on to Dunedin. We undertook a fairly shameless sales-pitch regarding the ease of the walks, which thankfully (this time) bore fruit. The Horseshoe and Matai Falls really were only 10 minutes away from the car park (admittedly all incline) - and were both included in the one walk (bargain!).

.

Matai Falls

Purakaunui Falls was really not that much further along the Scenic Route - and was really quite impressive.

Purakaunui Falls

It was about lunch time as we called into Owaka - and we did have much luck locating a place to purchase something. The first place involved a caravan with the chef (allegedly) rolling a joint on the caravan steps. The second place was closed. The final place insisted you either forked out a substantial mark-up in price for eating inside - or take your filthy takeaway meal and fend for yourself in the great outdoors (in this case, outdoors was a picnic table with a view of some lambs resting under a tree).

Owaka was a total loss - there was the Teapot Place. Part art-installation, part fairly problematic hoarding - it was all class.

Despite the cries of "again?!!" from the Martin kids (we have seen a few lighthouses I guess), we made our way to Nugget Point with the intent of wandering out to the very end to view Nugget Point Lighthouse as well as the Nuggets themselves.

Seals - actually visible on this occasion.

The Nuggets

Nugget Point Lighthouse with a side-order of nuggets.

We made it to Dunedin by about 5:30pm, and after some fairly bizarre directions from Google Maps, we arrived at our accommodation for the next couple of nights. I may have remarked (from safely within our car) that the Motel owner looked remarkably similar to the Harry Potter character Wormtail, as he emerged to direct us to our room (I know, I am a bad person). Josh erupted into hysterics of such vigour that we feared he may rupture something.

The city of Dunedin (the central part at least) appears to merge seamlessly with Otago University, some very old, stately buildings now housing various faculties and Uni students alike. It's very much a university town.