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Two-day, three-night small group eco-tours to see and learn about The Catlins rainforest and coast. Subantarctic penguins and marine mammals are seen. Tours are fully catered in comfortable home-stay accommodation and home-cooked meals. Tours are personalised and guided by hosts Fergus and Mary Sutherland who have 20 years experience in hosting visitors to the Catlins and are well qualified with Masters degrees and conservation credentials.
This whole area is called "Curio Bay", but includes the long sandy enclosed Porpoise Bay, and the small rocky Curio Bay that directly faces the open ocean. On the road running along Porpoise Bay, there are houses and accommodation and several access points onto the beach. To see most of the attractions, continue to the end of the beach where the road ends in a T intersection. Left takes you to the camping ground, the beach store, beach access and cliff-top lookout. Porpoise Bay has a resident population of the endangered Hector's dolphin, and the delight is that in summer and autumn they can often be seen easily from the beach as they swim in or just beyond the surf. Turning right at the T intersection takes you to the Curio Bay car park, interpretive panels and a walk down to the rocks. Here are fossilized logs and tree stumps from a forest that stood in the Jurassic period 180 million years ago. It is one of the best examples of a Jurassic fossil forest in the world. You can walk around the fossils when the tide is out. The second attraction in this small bay is endangered yellow-eyed penguins that nest here and can be seen returning from the sea in the late afternoon and early evening and walking up the rocks or just standing around. Also in these bays, fur seals can sometimes be seen, usually on rocky shore, and the larger sea lions, usually on sandy shore.
After passing through the village of Papatowai heading west, the road runs up Florence Hill, where there are two parking spots with great views of the coast. The second one is even better than the first, as it has great views of Tautuku Bay and Tautuku Peninsula, where there was once a whaling station, plus information boards.
A spectacular sea scene with a lighthouse (built 1869–70) and the Nuggets (a group of rocky islets), which can be viewed from the lighthouse (a 10–20 min return walk from the end carpark). If you look down from the walk, well below near sea level are breeding colonies of royal spoonbill birds and fur seals. Sea lions come here, and sometimes elephant seals in summer. Roaring Bay (20 min return) can be accessed from a carpark before the main one. Yellow-eyed penguins come ashore in the bay in the late afternoon. There is a hide from which you can view them – avoid going on to the beach in the late afternoon. There is a picnic area and toilets near the end carpark.
Drive to New Haven, then walk over a bridge crossing a small creek and follow the poled route through the dunes to Surat Bay. Usually there is a colony of New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) on the beach or in the dunes. The walk is 20–30 mins return. You can also walk to the end of the bay and over to Cannibal Bay, or you can drive to Cannibal Bay.
Walk through a 250 m disused brick-lined railway tunnel that was dug by hand in the 1890s. It is now an historic reserve. Taking a torch is recommended.