Bottom Bus - Ivercargill to Te Anau

We had a late start today when leaving Invercargill (10am!!). We first headed to a Paua factory in Riverton. Here we got the chance to make our own Paua necklace. Paua is a shellfish which clings to rocks and has a lovely coloured shell. It is unique to NZ and the shell is used to make jewelery. Our next stop was at Colac Bay where we went for a walk along the beach. In waves at Colac are well known for surfing and so the town has a very high surfing population. We then went on to Orepuki. They get very strong winds here and we stopped at one place to see the effects of the winds - trees growing at an angle: The next stop was one of the most photographed stops on the Kiwi bus - McCrakens Rest! Here we got a great view of the coast as the sun came out for us for a while! Our next stop was at Waiau Downs Farm. Here we got a farm tour where we were shown the sheep dogs working, sheep shearing and the boys in our group also had a shot at shearing the sheep. We then went onto a pub for a cheap lunch before stopping to see a valley which had been carved out by a glacier. Our final stop for the day before our hostel was at NZ's deepest lake, 444m in it's deepest part! We then went onto our hostel and checked in. Our hostel was on the waterfront of Lake Te Anau and this was the view from our room:After dumping all our things, some of us headed into Te Anau for a look around town. We also headed to the Ranch Bar for a drink as we had been given vouchers to use there. In the evening we watched the first Lord of the Rings film. We didn't start watching it until 11pm so there was no surprise at me falling asleep 40mins before the end!!