Thursday 27 – Friday 28 March 2025

Drove over east to the Catlins today, to a little seaside cabin in Papatowai. A few tourists about but a pretty sleepy place. The blue South Pacific is right on our doorstep and the general store a short walk away. Plugging and unplugging electrical appliances to microwave, boil, fry and heat the room, sort of in that sequence, and we had a delicious vegetable teriyaki stir fry (with thin slices of left over steak and softened Udon noodles) for dinner.

Friday looked like being a nice day, when one observed the stars at 3.00 am and the morning was very cold and crisp. But alas, the light rain showers arrived as we headed to Nugget Point. This entailed a scenic drive along the coast, with lots of sheep in the paddocks, rolling green hills and cliff edges dipping into the sea. The uphill walk to the lighthouse was undertaken by one of the party. Apparently, it was nice.

Then back to Papatowai and to the general store for what is alleged to be, according to someone called “Burger Nation”, New Zealand’s best burger. This comes with newspaper articles and lots of hype - out of Peakes Caravan, a flash looking retro van. How was it? 5/10.

The bun was a white milk bun, not well toasted and seemed a bit ’stale’ to Flashy. Three slices of beetroot, a nice fresh piece of frilly lettuce, a reasonably cooked patty with a little melted cheese, sitting on pickled cucumber slices, some sort of white mayo and the bottom bun. Too much beetroot. A beetroot relish would have been better. Patty was pretty tasteless. Pickles a bit too sharp. And like so many burgers, too bloody high to get in your mouth. Wider and flatter is always better. Lady P had juice running down her arm, while Flashy gave up and put it on a plate, deconstructed it and ate it with a knife and fork. If this is NZ’s best burger – God help us!

As the light rain sets in we retire to update blogs and have a read of the $3 books we picked up at a Salvo shop on the trip here yesterday.

Hyped up a bit.
South Pacific on our doorstep.
The estuary.
Average burger. Nice chips. OK aioli







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