Catlin Forest, South Island, New Zealand

Our goal when we first set out on this road trip was to camp out as many nights as possible.  Our first night of tent camping was in the Catlin Forest; the only other time that we camped outside was at Milford Sound only due to lack of accommodations.  Just too darn cold and rainy to do much camping so we opted for the more comfortable cabins in the holiday parks.  In the Catlin Forest, we took many bird watching hikes along the river and through the beech forests hoping to find the rare endangered “Mohua” yellowhead.  It was finally on the drive out of the park that we spotted this elusive bird.  On our passage from the Catlin Forest to Milford Sound, we traveled along the Presidential Highway – first we passed through the town of “Clinton”, then twenty miles later was the town named “Gore” – No Kidding!