Fish are Friends, Not Food!

For our next adventure, we made our way down to Invercargill, but took a longer route to explore some of the smaller cities along the way. One of our first (caffeine) stops was at Last Light Lodge in Tuatapere. This gem of a spot alone made us want to hang out! The food looked fresh and homemade, the drinks were tasty, they were collecting fresh veggies they were growing themselves, and the people were delightful. If you are planning a road trip in the area, make this a lunch stop at least.

We stopped in a few other spots along the way before landing in Invercargill. We had one night in town so started heading toward the local brewery, the third most southern brewery in the world, but on the way we stumbled across a street party for a local pub that was closing its doors. There was beer and great live music (solid 90’s covers), so we stopped there instead before grabbing some dinner and going to bed. We had an early morning the next day, but could hear the music from the party in our hostel, so we (sort of) partied on from afar.

The next morning, we headed to Bluff to join the Shark Experience for a “Big Fish” Tour around the Titi Islands. We drove for an hour and stopped at an island called Motunui (yes Moana fans, Motunui – which apparently here means Big Island) to do some fishing and keep an eye out for some “big fish”.

We caught a few blue cod and some wrasse, watched the Mollymawk (a cousin of the Albatross) hang near the boat, and waited.

Suddenly, out of nowhere we heard the big splash of a “big fish” taking a bite out of one of the Mollymawks. Brandon and I both missed seeing the breech sadly, but we quickly jumped into the water to befriend this “big fish.” And he was a beauty!

The water was pretty cold, but we had solid gear to keep us warm. We saw 2 during the day, one about 3.6 meters and the other around 3.4 meters – relatively small. But I was happy!! I would have loved to spend more time with our new friends, but they were a bit shy. After a few hours on the water, we did a quick hike before heading back to town – cold but pleased with the day!