Nugget Point & Balclutha – Day 170

So today guys we’re gonna visit one of the most iconic and most photographed spots in New Zealand. It’s called Nugget point.

This morning we are leaving the Whistling Frog Resort where we’ve been staying for our Catlins adventure and we are hitting the road really early because we are finally leaving the Catlins we are heading to the next leg of our adventure but there is one more thing we want to do along the Kaka Point Coast is visiting the stunning Nugget Point.

This is golden hour with the sun being so low and giving this amazing look to the entire landscape the coast is looking gorgeous and as we hit the gravel road and getting closer to Nugget Point the views are getting even more beautiful.

Nugget Point is super easy to access if you forget about the gravel road you have to drive on. It’s a 20 minute walk and the views are absolutely fantastic it’s a must do on a catlins Road trip and this is why we kept it for last.

Nugget Point is a pretty weird name for a place in New Zealand but we find out thanks to all the interpretation signs along the way that it was actually called Nugget Point by a guy called Captain James Cook so was the first English guy to map out most of New Zealand’s coastline. And he called it Nugget Point because well the rocks look like little nuggets.

There are so many awesome viewpoints along the way giving you so many different perspectives of that famous Nugget Point lighthouse and the coast even before you get to the main viewing platform.

From the main viewing platform we have unparalleled views of those world famous nuggets which are basically massive wave eroded rocks. And those rocks are inhabited with heaps of seabirds there are penguins, there are gannets, there are Royal spoonbill, there are sooty shearwaters and there are seagulls that’s a lot of life right here on those rocks and on top of that there is also a massive seal colony.

And because we are here so early in the morning the whole place feels alive this is the time of the day when the wildlife is the most active. to be quite honest the best way to see all this wildlife and all this activity happening is to use binoculars or like we do the big lens of Laura’s camera. This gives a lot of space for this whole wildlife ecosystem to behave like it should in the wild.

The rocks below are also home to a huge colony of New Zealand fur seals which you can actually see them playing in the rock pools and stuff like that it’s really really cute but if you’re super lucky if you come here between December and February sometimes you can see elephant seals down there as well. But if you do have more time here there’s another really awesome walk where you can get real good chances of seeing wildlife at Roaring Bay cos there’s different bird viewing hides there as well and it’s a good chance to see yellow eyed penguins there in early morning or at sunset.

As we are now leaving the Nugget Point Lighthouse I’m gonna give you a couple of facts about the lighthouse itself cos we’ve been focusing on everything but the lighthouse so far. So this lighthouse was built in 1869 and it stand 76m above sea level it is operated by computer no one is actually living in the lighthouse to make it work anymore.

But enough about this lighthouse we are now making our way back to the campervan because our final destination today is Dunedin but before that we’re gonna be stopping at the little town of Balclutha basically right in the middle between Nugget Point and Dunedin.

Here in Balclutha we have decided to stop at Naish Park which is a lovely little garden with also an exotic bird aviary and we decided to make this little park our lunch stop.

We are super surprised to actually see there is a whole aviary here full of exotic birds like parakeets, cocktails, peacocks these funky looking golden peacocks all sorts of crazy looking birds so we take some time to have a look at those little guys.

It’s a pretty awesome free thing to do when you’re making your way from the Catlins back into the civilisation of Dunedin.

Because we’ve been off the beaten track for long we realise that we have run out of food so when it comes to lunch we’re a little bit disappointed.

So we’ve come to Naish Park in Balclutha to have some lunch but then we realised we don’t have any food so this is all we have left. Looks like a trip to Pakn’save is in order.

tonight we’re gonna be finishing our day in the Chalet Backpackers in Dunedin where we’re gonna start exploring this awesome town of New Zealand and it starts with heaps of wildlife tomorrow.

In a far far away land called New Zealandia and man and his girlfriend decided to attempt the adventure of a lifetime 365 days they will take to do 365 activities uncovering the best kept secrets of that far far away land. How do I know this story you may ask? Well I am one of them. Let me take you on a journey on a story to this far far away land.