I Think I Saw A Dinosaur!!!!

Another weekend means another day trip. Today I woke up and decided at the last minute that I wanted to see the multiple beautiful waterfalls located in the Catlins. The Catlins is an area east of Invercargill which includes beautiful vistas of rural farmland, podocarp forest, hidden lakes and beautiful waterfalls. It is only about a 1-1/2 hour from home so this morning, I grabbed my map, my hiking bag and set off!

Driving to the Catlins was amazing like every other drive I've done in New Zealand so far. The drive is on the Southern Scenic Route which takes you through quaint rural towns and past beautiful farmlands and down the coastline.
My goal for this day trip was to see two waterfalls that I had seen pictures of in books. I also wanted to see Curio Bay which is an amazing place geologically. It is the site of an ancient Jurassic era rainforest. It somehow got flooded during the last ice age and is now perfectly petrified for all to see. During low tide you can walk around and acutally see little fossilised plants and animals from 180 million years ago!!! It is truly amazing!

How a Jurassic Forest became a petrified forest.

Curio Bay

These aren't rocks, they are actually petrified trees from 180 million years ago!!!

My next stop was McLean Falls. Most of the waterfalls in the area are deep within podocarp forests...that is a fancy way of saying a Jurassic Park like jungle. I know that we only associate jungles with the hot tropics but after the trees and stuff that I saw, I say its a jungle! Anytime you can't see the sky because the trees are so thick...its a jungle! And it was thick!!! You couldn't see ground on either side of the trail there were so many plants and ferns there! I swear some of the plants and trees I saw are identical to ones i've seen in the jungles of Costa Rica or Thailand!!!!

Seriously Jurassic Park looking

This looks like jungle to me....this is the kind of trail you walk down just before the T-Rex jumps out and eats you...

Of course, it wasn't hot...i had my awesome layering on today...two shirts, fleece coat and raincoat but it was still so amazing to see a forest that resembled so closely a tropical place!!!
Even scarier, I kept telling myself I saw something moving deep in the jungle of trees...Any time I heard a sound I just KNEW a velocor raptor was going to come running out of the jungle at me! I think at one time I convinced myself I saw a tail of a dinosaur..it was actually a tree branch but you see the pictures!!! Seeing a dinosaur doesn't seem that improbable!!!! I'm a smart person but I have a robust imagination! All I was thinking was that I just saw one of the best preserved Jurassic era rainforests in the WORLD right down the road...who's to say that some of the Jurassic era stuff isn't so petrified?! :)

I still think there may be dinosaurs roaming around!

This looks like the set of Jurassic Park!!!

I'm expecting to see monkeys swinging between branches....

or tigers drinking from the stream...

Seriously, one  of the reasons why I LOVE hiking in New Zealand is because aside from the rare psycho there is nothing in the forests that will kill you!!! No snakes, no spiders, no scary big bugs...NOTHING creepy crawly...sure they have the routine bugs but when you see jungle like this, you expect to see some 12 inch hairy spiders and 30 foot long boa constrictors!!! They don't have any of that!!!! Lack of big, hairy, creepy spiders is reason enough to move to New Zealand for me!!!

THIS IS NOT IN NEW ZEALAND!!!

this was in Thailand on our jungle walk...i find it totally inappropriate for a spider to be this big...i almost fainted...

Yet another inappropriate animal...a tree snake, in Thailand...

After a brief 20 minute hike, you come to deeper forest and a beautiful little waterfall. Its no Niagra Falls but it was still beautiful!!!

McLean Falls

I continued to drive east, heading towards the "big" famous waterfall of Purakaunui Falls. On the way, the drive takes you past coastal lowlands then up into the Catlins Coastal Rainforest. The name is perfect for this area. It truly looks like a rainforest! So lush and so pristine.
On the way, I stopped on a lookout to see Tautuku Beach...I didnt know the name of it when I drove by it at first so I decided that it would be my beach!!

We're planning on coming back here in the summer! I'm gonna call it Brown's Sugar Beach!

It's mine!!!

After passing my beach, I turned off down a dirt road to get to Purakaunui Falls. The hike to Purakaunui Falls was similar to the first one, a short 30 minute hike and you start to hear water roaring. Then you get glimpses of water through the trees and then see this....

me at Purakaunaui Falls!!

After my two short hikes and about 3 hours of driving round trip, I came back home and decided to treat myself to Reason #168 of Why I Love New Zealand...

Awesome fish and chips!

Note the lovely grease stains on the paper!

Its served wrapped up in a nice little newspaper bundle and you get to unwrap it like a Christmas present!!! Whoo-hoo!