When looking on how to get to Invercargill from Dunedin we found out that this was possible by taking the Southern Scenic Route, road to me and you, but by the sounds of it, it was a pretty nice one. The route runs from Dunedin, all the way to Invercargill. which gives you the best roads and views along the journey.

We made our way along the Southern Scenic Route, passing several stopping opportunities on the way. Understandably we couldn't stop at all of these as if we did then we wouldn't get to Invercargill untill about midnight. One stop off we did decide on was Cannibal Cove. This was a small cove, which was only accessible by a 7km gravel track, off the main road. Here we took a walk down the beach, where we saw a sleeping sea lion and seal, both great to see in the wild. Due to the strong wind and not wanting to be eaten by the sea lion, we headed back to the car and made the journey back to the main road.

It was such as nice feeling to be driving again and it did feel a bit weird loading up the car in the morning to make our own way to our next stop. Driving for the first time for a fair while was brilliant, but the novalty of having an automatic wore off pretty quickly. The windy, hilly roads of New Zealand were put the Sunny well and truely out of it's comfort zone, as the gear box struggled to first select a gear and then stay in one, the strong wind didn't help much either. However when we did find a good speed at which to sit (with out the gear box changing up or down) it was a fun drive and as we drove towards Invercargill the wind was ridiculous, battering the poor Nissan Sunny even harder than previously.

We managed not only to find Invercargill (it really wasn't that hard to be fair) but the hostel as well, we only had to turn round once. Although we found our hostel pretty quickly, we both would have been happy if it had taken a while longer. A place called 'Sparkys' was where we had booked and it, like Dunedin, was an interesting place. After being over charged by $10 (which we did point out at the time) we were shown to our room in what can only be described as a small house with some extra beds chucked in it, so it could be called a hostel.

Luckily for us we had only booked two nights in Invercargill and we were both pleased with this as it was a bit like Dunedin in the fact it was a bit run down, and just nothing special really. Granted the weather probably didn't help as it was still getting battered by the wind, gale force at times, grey and quite wet.

This weather stayed around for our second day, our only full day. We didn't really know what to do with ourselves as neither of us wanted to venture out into the great outdoors but at the same time we didn't want to sit in the hostel. After some thought we took a drive to the near by town of Bluff.

Now from the Lonely Planet, Bluff was by no means a picture postcard town either but it was one of the only things to do in the area so we took a drive there. Struggling against the wind, which was shaking lamp posts, signs and traffic lights, we arrived about 40 minutes later. With Bluff being right on the coast, more of a port and access to Stewart Island, than beaches and ice creams, the wind was even stronger. We headed up to a look out point at the highest point of town, where we could see very little due to the cloud and rain. Belle opted to stay in the car while I walked up to the top most of the lookout, pumled by the wind.

We then stopped at Stirling Point, New Zealands 'Lands End', which again due to the weather we didn't stay for long, just enough time to take the stanard couple of snaps. After this we had exhausted all that Bluff had to offer and made our way back to Invercargill. It was still quite early afternoon and we didn't want to go back and sit in the hostel so instead we went to a McCafe and had a slice of cake and a smoothie each.

Finally biting the bullet and deciding we couldn't stay out for the rest of the evening we headed back via the supermarket, which had 'meat week', cheaper deals on meats. With this we managed to pick up a couple of steaks for about two pound and happy that we would have a nice meal that evening.

After watching alot of Heroes (TV programme) we were quite peckish and decided to make dinner. Now another 'plus' side to 'Sparkys' was the miniscule kitchen. We waited and waited but it didn't get any quieter and not wanting to ruin our nice meal (and have to eat it in our room like the first night) and both being very hungry we took the decision to go for a Burger King down the road, we should have claimed the money back as some kind of expenses. After this we spent our last night watching yet more Heroes (good programme!) and packing up our bags ready to leave the next morning.

Firstly I would like to apologise if this blog (as I suspect) was a boring one, but we really didn't do much in Invercargill and the fact the weather played such a part in it shows how little there was to do. Plus the hostel wasn't exactly 'tip top' which didn't help. Invercargill, we stopped here once, we wouldn't do it again.