The Catlins... sheep country!

Everybody told me there would be sheep. Lots of sheep. 50 million sheep, 5 million people, etc. But to be honest, up until today, the whole "so many sheep!" thing has been a bit of a disappointment. On the north island, I'm pretty sure I saw more cows than sheep...

But today (and yesterday), I found the sheep. Did I ever... they've stashed them all away on the east coast of the south island, it appears.

Lighthouse at Nugget Point

I'm currently in a region known as the Catlins - known for its fast changing weather, rugged coastlines, and rainforest-turned-farmland... sheep country. But first a typical aside on geology.

Back in the day, New Zealand was part of the most recent supercontinent, Gondwanaland (ring any bells from grade school? Or is everyone still hung up on Pangaea?) While the North Island has had some substantial volcanic activity, and the west side of the South Island is experiencing massive uplift, the east coast of the South Island has been shaped mostly by the wind and the waves. The result is pretty cool - ancient species of trees found nowhere else (actually, there's a species of pine found here and in Chile, of all places...), huge sea caves in the cliff faces going hundreds of meters inland (sometimes collapsing to make blowholes in the middle of pastures high up on a hill), and an entire fossilized forest from the Jurassic period emerging on a beach at low tide.

Geology aside complete. On to the fauna. The coast is the home to several species of penguins, sea lions, whales, and dolphins. Speaking of dolphins, apparently there has been some crazy sort of dolphin gathering up in the Cook Strait, between the N. and S. Islands - hundreds of dolphins frolicking in the strait and right into Wellington Harbour; apparently you could even see it from airplanes. But that's a ways north of me, at the moment.

Ricey. Age 27. Ex-racehorse. Likes to nuzzle.

Right. Sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. I went horseback riding again, this time with a horse named Ricey - the best horse I have ever ridden. No offence, Pete. Super-nice family run farm, and much less touristy than last time, which was nice. Ricey's older than I am, and lives on a big... organic sheep farm! There are some cows, too, but they keep around 2500 sheep year round, and right now its about double that because of the lambs. On one farm. One family. Many sheep. White sheep, black sheep, white sheep with black faces... cute, the lot of them.

Traffic

I got stuck behind a large number of lambs being moved down the road to a new pasture - all legs and bouncing heads in a river of fur being moved down the road by about 10 dogs and two pickup trucks. Occasionally they'd do a little jog and there would be a big ripple of ears as they bounced a little faster. :p A couple times one would just fall over, though (scared?) and the farmer would get out of his truck and put it in the back, by which time it had woken up and started bleating. The dogs certainly knew what they were doing, and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Clouds in the Catlins

Pūrākaunui Falls

The sky here is huge - and often full of interesting cloud formations. The weather changes pretty quickly, though it still hasn't rained enough in one go for Tuck to get a proper shower. Looking out over the landscape, you see mostly fields with patches of forest here and there. At the turn of the last century, it was all rainforest - no grasslands to speak of. The native forest is lovely - orchids, ferns, and rimu and other podacarps (think broad-leafed, super-lush almost-pine tree).  From a distance though, you'd never guess what was hidden under some of the trees in the valley bottoms. The landscape is laced with small rivers and streams which feed into the large, wide estuaries; beneath the shelter of the trees, though, these smaller streams cascade over many small but gorgeous waterfalls.

Hostel in the Catlins

The hostel where I'm staying in the town of Owaka (the largest town in the Catlins... population 334 at the last census - speaking of which, it was census day in New Zealand today! I got to fill out a census form :D ) is an old hospital from the first half of the 1900s... haven't found the exact date anywhere, just guestimating... windows like the Fort's school house :p. Its huge, and mostly empty since not a lot of people come through here, making for potentially eerie nights. Definitely a quirky building, in a quirky town with a quirky population. :p

Tomorrow: Dunedin.

P.S.
I've got a pile of pictures I want to stick up on Flickr, but I'd like to do them full sized (therefore not over my data stick). Usually the busier YHA's have free internet so hopefully in a couple of days I'll get some up.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of sheep. :p