My Trip To The Southern Parts Of New Zealand, The Catlins, Lake Manapouri and Doubtful Sound (1)

When it was first suggested, though I wanted to go, I was a bit hesitating, on driving on my own, in a totally unknown zone, but then, if I am a real Buddhist, and being an Aquarius and also knowing my character, I will do it. The other thing of my concern is, I think I have overspent my budget, haha, yes, I do have my budget too and the first few days, together with my friend, Ghaz (who for sure is on sabbatical, is easier and me, presently, not working, has to be careful a bit with my expenses, haha. Nevertheless, that is not a major issue, as it is part and parcel of traveling, but it was a small concern for me.

THen my visit to Dunedin Visitor information centre, with the customer service lady, Sharon, who has been very helpful from beginning, hence I got everything arranged for my whole trip.
Car was booked, hotel or motel was arranged and ticket bought, and at the time I was booking, I only managed to secured the only seat on the 11th. And 10th was my Birthday, hence the day I started my driving after having my birthday breakfast with Ghaz.

The drive throughout was smooth, all along the way, and I was searching for the SOuthern Scenic Route sign, until I reached Balcutha information centre, then the excitement starts after the lady there informed my of the various places of interest. You start finding one attraction after another, the first one will be very impressive and you tend to spend more time on it, then as you go along, the time will be lesser.....In short, it was very beautiful scenic driving, but not until my drive in some gravel roads (the roads that are tarred and were covered with some small stones)... it is dangerous, and if you do not hold your steering well, you could lose control of your driving which I almost did on the way coming out from cannibal beach, if I remembered the name of the seaside well.

As I was driving along these routes, time flies and it felt like time was too rushing and short for me, and the need to cover so many places makes me a little bit tense.

I will write more after this, as the internet is a bit slow here. Nevertheless, you see a lot of beautiful, nice and splendid sceneries, though the driving could be terrible at gravel roads sometimes, and speed can come to like 10-20km per hour.

Will write more on my driving experience, my emotions, etc, about the need to find petrol stations and the need to reach my motel before 9pm,.....

Choong
Picton
15 February 2014