Tue 17th Feb – Thurs 19th Feb
Accommodation: Quest Serviced Apartment
Tue 17th Feb
It was pouring with rain for our departure from Dunedin which made packing the car a rather wet endeavour. Mark had prepared a list of stops for our journey down to Invercargill so we persevered. First was for a coffee at Saint Clair’s beach front Long Dog Cafe. It was a good spot to be this morning as the surf was wild and huge and the cafe was perched right above the rocks making for an excellent viewing area. Colleen and I noted the presence of cheese scones at the cafe but decided we would wait until later on.
The continued pouring rain meant we aborted Mark multi-stop route and took a more direct path to Invercargill. Our lunch stop was at The George Cafe in Balclutha where we gave in to temptation and sampled their delicious cheese scones. There was a subsequent stop along the way to view a waterfall that I missed out on because I was sick of the rain and then one last stop for afternoon tea where, sadly, the cheese scones had sold out. We finally made it to Invercargill at around 4.30pm and were all glad that the rain had stopped and to be out of the car. Our lodging for the next two nights was at Quest and our one bedroom apartments were very comfortable.
It was close to 6pm before we stepped out again and Mark was making a bee-line for the Invercargill Club as they had advertised craft beer. This turned out to be a bit of an experience as it was private club that dated back to 1879 and had links to exclusive clubs located across the world. We only had time for the one drink but both boys promised to return tomorrow.
Dinner tonight was at Koji Japanese and this was a great experience as the food and atmosphere were great and it was clearly a local hotspot as we saw both the local Fire Fighters and Police come in here to pick up their take-away meals. This is a place I would highly recommend if you’re ever in Invercargill. It was then back home for an early night as we were all tired from a big day of travel.
Wed 18th Feb
It was an overcast morning but the boys went off for a ride. I had googled ‘waterfront promenade walk Invercargill’ and received a suggestion that Colleen and I duly followed. I have to say it was a most depressing walk indeed with the first and last 20 minutes being a walk through an industrial area with loads of large truck traffic and the brief waterfront walk section was along the estuary where, I commented to Colleen, that I would not feel safe walking here on my own. I then mentioned that this is the kind of place, if Mark and I were on our own, we’d cut our losses, pack up and head out to go somewhere else.
Our initial plan had been to take a morning walk around the local area and then an afternoon cycle ride. I had thought I’d pick up a local walking guide from the Tourist Office but, wait for it, when we googled for its location over our morning coffee, we found that they don’t have a Tourist Office in Invercargill. That should have been a warning to us before coming here but none of us had picked up on it. We then searched for a ‘bike hire’ location and, guess what, they don’t offer these either. On further searching I found that the GDP of Invercargill comes mostly from primary industry (sheep, dairy, wool & timber etc) plus some manufacturing and some to the service sectors of Health and warehouse storage. Yes, we saw a huge number of warehouses on our morning walk. However, there was no mention of Tourism in their GDP tally! The other thing we had noted after our arrival yesterday was the lack of Asian tourists here so they had all obviously done more effective research than we had! Mick Jagger had infamously called Invercargill ‘the arse end of the world’ and I wouldn’t disagree. In our defence, this was just a stop along the way so as to get to Te Anau, a small town that is the gateway to Milford Sound and Fiordland, but I definitely would not bother putting Invercargill on your ‘must see’ itinerary if you ever visit the South Island. So it looked like we would be spending a relaxing day with some local exploring, a drive out to the Bluff, and maybe some down time with reading.
It was 10.30 am before we set off from our apartments and we decided to head out to Stirling Point, at the Bluff, where we ended up taking a 5 km walk out and back along a section of the Foveaux Walkway. This was a very scenic route along the perimeter of the Bluff as it offered spectacular views out to the Foveaux Straight. It was very convenient for us that we finished our walk near 1pm and were ready for lunch only to find that the Oyster Cove restaurant, right at the end of our path, had plenty of tables still available and we had a most enjoyable meal whilst continuing to enjoy the spectacular view.
The sun had come out by the time we left The Bluff and it was then a lazy afternoon for us before we all caught up again near 5:30 pm to head out for dinner. We had one drink back at The Invercargill Club and then dinner at Tuatara Cafe & Bar. The venue had a rather low rating but was a hive of activity, possibly due to it having an onsite Gadoochi brewery, and was the place were all the locals seemed to gather for dinner. The meals were ok but it had a good atmosphere and nicely capped off our short time in Invercargill. Tomorrow we head to Te Anau.
