Bluff - a pleasant 1/2 hour drive from Invercargill

Invercargill is renowned for its motor museum, which we didn't go to (memories of Beaulieu Motor Museum as a child and then York), and clearly there are those residents who love old cars:

Our Rav4 drives well and is economical too (petrol is about $NZ2.10/litre). We head to Bluff, the most southerly point of New Zealand. Settled in 1824 by one Captain William Stirling as a whaling station, it is now home to an aluminium smelter and a small fishing community.

We check the departure location for our ferry tomorrow and the security of the car park, then head up to the highest vantage point. The coves are rocky and thick with strands of giant kelp. People snorkel for clams and sea urchins. Cloud rolls in as I try to photograph Stewart Island, where the weather forecast for tomorrow is a low of 12 and a high of 13. Should be interesting but at least fine weather is predicted still.

Stewart Island is 30kms offshore, but it looks closer.

There are four shipwrecks off this coast - the pilot lived in this small building and turned on the pilot light each evening. It's no longer in use. There is a lighthouse further off the coast.