Fish Heaven

We spent the last three nights at a really cool campsite right on the beach on the Purakaunui Falls Scenic Reserve. When we arrived on Friday evening, the campsite was crawling with weekend partygoers, which was pretty amazing considering the spot was in the middle of nowhere, and accessed by a long dirt road.

It’s interesting to see how people live in different parts of the world and what a huge part the land a person grows up in plays in who that person becomes, what they are interested in. Most of the people at the campsite with us were college-aged, I’d say. Maybe a bit older. It was clear that this was what they did for fun when they had some time off – pack up the car with the surf boards and wetsuits and tents and head to the beach for a few days. Growing up in New Zealand, being outdoorsy just seems to be part of your heritage. I can’t imagine how a person could make it to adulthood here without learning to appreciate nature.

As campsites go, this place was tops. The beach was closed in by gorgeous white cliffs on one side, with crazy volcanic rock forms extending around the bay on the other side. The first night there, we walked a ways out on the rocks, seeing where they led. It was as if lava, pouring down toward the water, had suddenly been smothered by a huge wave, and all the bubbles in the lava had frozen immediately. The rock remaining was rough and porous, and in some places lay in huge squares, like a chessboard. In spots, water had pooled up in the rocks and little miniature aquariums had formed, full of strings of yellow pearl algae and green shrubbery, all perfectly visible through the clear water. I can’t really describe it, but it was gorgeous. After we’d walked out around the bay a bit, we found the perfect fishing spot, and…

Bjorn has been in fish heaven the last few days. We spent Saturday pretty lazily, taking in the Purakauni Falls in the morning (nothing spectacular) and spending the entirety of the afternoon fishing. Or rather, Bjorn fished, perched on a craggy rock above the ocean, and I sat just a few feet behind him in my comfy camping chair, listening to my Swedish lessons on my ipod. (Jag ar Amerikan!)

He caught about 10 fish that day – blue cod, red cod, parrot fish - all which went back into the water except for one beautiful, fat blue cod. The cod was perfectly sized for cutting into two fillets (which Bjorn expertly did later that afternoon) and for cooking up on our little frying pan over our camping stove (which we also did later). DELISH!

The following day, we went out on a little day walk down the Catlins River, and Bjorn again, just had to try his luck. Trout for dinner last night! Nutritious AND a budget saver.

After catching a really ewy eel a couple months ago back in Akaroa, Viv, a chef at the restaurant remarked, “Bjorn’s just a hunter-gatherer, isn’t he? He just can’t help himself, can he?” And it’s so true. He really cannot help himself. He can content himself for hours on end with casting the line out, reeling it back in, casting the line out, reeling it back in. I have never been into fishing; in fact, I might have said before it was something of a redneck pastime. And I’m not going to say I LOVE it now or anything, but I do get it now. And I think it’s really admirable to get such pleasure out of such a simple, natural act.

Anyway. A storm was a-brewing yesterday when we got back to the campsite, so we packed our little tent away and re-organized the car to fit our sleeping bags and bodies and whiled the evening away listening to some radio podcasts (what a brilliant invention) and reading (we have just started to read Twilight together).

It’s poured down rain all day today. We made the silly mistake of going to see some “spectacular” Cathedral Caves and spent $10 getting soaked from head to toe. We fled the caves and headed to the nearest town to find some shelter, and here we are at the Dolphin Lodge Backpackers at Curio Bay. We’re still in the Catlins and will probably be here for another couple of days. Our next real destination is Stewart Island, a little island south of here, famous for its bird wildlife. We’ll do a three day trek there (and pray it doesn’t pour on us the whole time), and then head back to the mainland and start gradually making our way up the west coast of the South Island.

Okay. I need to get back to being incredibly lazy at the hostel now. I almost appreciate the rain for giving me the excuse…

Love to you all!