Invercargill Report

Note: This was written a couple of days ago now. Since then we've done the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise and we leave for Dunedin tomorrow. We've been short on internet coverage, hence the delay. I will publish something again as soon as I can. S.

As I mentioned yesterday, our visit to Invercargill was cold, windy, and showery. We were expecting it to be a little cooler but nothing like it was. I don’t think the temperature got about 15 degrees Celsius (59 F.) any of the three days we were there. And by saying it got as high as 15 I’m being generous. Most of the time it ranged between 8 and 13 degrees (46.5-55.5) combined with the wind and the rain showers, we fought the weather the whole time.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that Invercargill has many things to offer and the people are very nice. Everyone we met there went out of their way to be helpful and friendly. There was even what I would call a genuine delight that we were tourists visiting their city.

The city itself (pop. 54,000) has a decidedly 1950’s small town America feeling to it. I don’t think there was a building taller than 10 stories and our hotel was seven stories which means we had a pretty good view of the surrounding area. The city also has a fantastic part called Queens Gardens at its center. Tasha and I spent about an hour and a half wandering around the grounds and saw maybe one quarter of what was contained within its borders. But the gardens are beautifully maintained, well laid out, and very relaxing. They are well worth a visit in their own right.

Yesterday we traversed a large section of what is known as “The Southern Scenic Route.” The route itself runs from Dunedin on eastern coast to Te Anau at the entry way to Fiordland National Park. The section we spent the most time on yesterday is known as The Catlins. The route runs mostly along the southeastern side of the South Island. Dodging between rain showers, we saw some incredible points, bays, beaches, the occasional sea lion and lots and lots and lots of sheep. We actually got worn out by the wind and cold so we didn’t even come close to seeing all that we wanted to see. But I still managed to get a bunch of pictures.

So that is a brief description of our trip to Invercargill and I didn’t even mention the Invercargill Brewing Company. We are now in Te Anau and will be doing the overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound tomorrow. So thanks for tagging along and stay tuned for more updates.

Cheers!