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Reluctantly taking leave of Te Anau, we followed the Southern Scenic Route to Invercargill. Very few cars joined us as we passed sheep and mountains --- some peaks even bearing a coating of snow:
This flock of sheep was scattered all over the field when we arrived but cautiously moved away as we approached:
On the opposite side of the road was this pretty scene:
The Clifdon Suspension Bridge was built in 1899 near the town of Clifdon:
Now retired, it serves only as a pedestrian path across the Waiau River:
Reaching the sea at Te Waewae Bay, we admired the view and then turned east along the coast:
We detoured slightly at Colac Bay to check out the beach but found this imaginative bus stop more interesting:
Before entering Invercargill we stopped to explore Anderson Park north of town:
With flowers, trails, ducks and ponds, landscaped gardens surround a 1925 Georgian-style home. It is a lovely place to linger:
On the grounds we were able to measure precisely the impossibly tall hedges used as windbreaks throughout the South Island:
Our homebase in Invercargill was this flower-bedecked B&B, directly across the street from Queens Park:
Queens Park held many enjoyable attractions for us. One such was the oddly shaped Southland Museum where we learned about islands south of New Zealand (including their rough weather and strange plants and animals, shipwrecks on them and survival attempts, as well as unsuccessful experiments in farming):
In the park there are also captivating displays of flowers (including Red-Hot Pokers like the ones we had in England),
a fine aviary,
and flat, shady trails for biking:
We were also fascinated by the park’s many large old trees, duck ponds and pens holding a diversity of wild and domestic animals.
Elsewhere, the town has a few distinguished structures, such as 100 year old St. Mary’s Basilica:
and this unusual First Presbyterian Church completed in 1915 that looks like something right out of Italy:
Our two night stay in Invercargill was blessed with fine weather --- perhaps partly the reason we remember with fondness this tranquil town with the long blocks and nearly level terrain.