Day 97 & 98 Invercargill, Riverton, Gore, Surat Bay

We left Invercargill this morning and back tracked to the town of Riverton.  Riverton is a small community of 1900 residents that can make claim to being one of the oldest towns in New Zealand.  Actually one of three with the others being Bluff and the Bay of Islands.



Riverton



We stopped at the museum and learned about the history of the area and the whaling industry which was the start of the entire south coast.  A must stop and see was the Riverton Rocks, the name of the peninsula that juts out to sea beyond the harbor mouth.  Its 9 km length has many beautiful beaches that are safe for swimming and surfing.

We had lunch in Riverton and then decided to venture north to Gore.  This would allow us to see some of the interior before heading over to the Catlins on the east coast.  The drive to Gore was almost entirely farming but was pretty nice country.



New Zealand Countryside




On the road to Gore



We have seen a lot more sheep in this part of the country.  They also farm deer as livestock, venison is sold in the stores. 



A bunch of wooley little creatures




Deer Farm



We settled into a nice campsite just outside of Gore that has a few nice hikes.  One of which gives you a nice vista of the area.  However, no sooner had we got set up that it started to rain.  It was still raining when we got up so we decided to push on. 

We drove from Gore to Balclutha which was only 70 kilometers away but had us heading towards the coast.  We stopped at the I site to get our bearings and were told that there was a couple of holiday parks just down the road.  They were a good focal point for what was in the area and it was also a good place to wait out the weather.  It had been raining since we left Gore and more rain was called for until Saturday.  So thats what we did.  We found a small park about 30 km south on Surat Bay and settled in. As soon as the weather breaks we are going out to view and take pictures of the sea lions which reside on the beach nearby.  We also want to make a visit to Nugget Point to view the Yellow Eyed Penquins.  However we are at the mercy of Mother Nature.