Get off the tourist trail, see the Catlins with a real “Local”. Join Ibby Ibbotson, the expert on the Catlins. Born and bred in the Catlins and doing the rural mail service for the passed 20 years, plus or minus, he has some great stories to share while you see this “off the beaten track” Catlins Tour.
Join Ibby, at 8 am in Owaka as he begins his rural Catlins mail and newspaper run. See how the Rural Delivery Service works in New Zealand, providing a service to the rural community from mail to package delivery to prescriptions. Check out all the nooks and crannies that only Ibby knows about: Narrow back country gravel roads, farms, native forest, historical buildings, hideaways and his great stories about the history and characters that inhabit this, history rich, rural region of New Zealand. Ibby will take you on his morning run to the Chaslands, via the Puho Trail, then stop at the Whistling Frog Cafe for a coffee, hear the local banter and catch up on the local news, before continuing back up to Owaka via the historic settlements of Puketiro and Tawanui.
Arrive back in Owaka by lunch time and join Ibby and his wife Lindsay for lunch at their lifestyle farm on the outskirts of Owaka. He grows his own Catlins tomatoes and you will get to pet a lamb and maybe give it a bottle of milk. After enjoying a country lunch with Ibby and Lindsay, you will help Ibby with the afternoon rural mail run up the Owaka Valley to see a different view of the region via the backroads. You will then arrive back in Owaka at around 3 pm at the end of Ibby’s mail run. A day to remember!
Book at the Whistling Frog Cafe or online: www.catlinsnz.com The day in the Catlins with the Postie package is: $100 per person, which includes lunch with Ibby and a coffee at the Whistling Frog Cafe. (Max two persons.) Ibby has Sunday and Monday off, so the best time to book is Wednesday thru Saturday. This trip is a real treat and everyone who has done it absolutely loves it! Highly recommended... Rachel R: “Well worth doing... Ibby is a legend...!”
