The Cox Family New Zealand Adventures: Day 8

Cathedral Cave- The Catlins

After Porpus Bay we headed to our next adventure spot. We went to find Cathedral Cave. It is a privately owned spot on the beach that has a cave you can hike down into when the tide is low. It was $5 a person to access the trail. The trail was a beautiful hike down through lots of moss covered trees and ferns. It was a downhill onto the beach. As soon as the trail ended and you could see the waves crashing along the giant flat beach, the girls went on a marathon to see who could reach the water first.

This picture is blurry of the girls, but I loved that you could see the great big opening to the cave.

Inside the cave

The cave was a U shape and this was out the other end.

Kayla is constantly asking if we can take a picture of her dance moves. HA!!

A beautiful day at Cathedral Cave. Next stop was back to the Petrified Forest to try and catch a glimpse of a penguin before dusk as I had explained in the Curio Bay post.

Cathedral Cave Catlins Video Link

The Catlins Coast... Curio Bay and Porpus Bay

Our next stop in the Catlins area was Curio Bay where they had a petrified forest. If you look closely, you can see straight lines in the ground. Some are laying on top of each other. These are trees laying down and the thick mud laid on top of them and petrified them over the years.

Savannah pointing to some petrified wood in the rock

You can see this one really close up. It is laying down next to Savannah.

A big tree trunk.

Petrified wood inside this rock mass.

An up above shot of the petrified forest. Look closer at all the lines.

This is almost like a "Where's Waldo".... Where's the penguin? We went back to the Petrified forest at nearly dusk to try and catch a glimpse of a penguin coming onto shore and up into it's nest for the night. There are 3 penguins that live on this beach and it was know that they come on shore around dusk. We hurried back form a different hike to try and catch them. Kayla, Alyssa and I ran down and we were able to catch this penguin for about 10 seconds before he disappeared into the brush. Ava, Savannah and Brady missed it because Savannah was insistent that she run back to the car for her ipod to take a picture so she could send it to her friend. I told her not to and that there was no way to zoom in that far on her ipod. The above pic is me zooming in all the way. There were lots of people standing around completely silent watching this penguin. We didn't stay long enough to see if the other two that live on this shore came in before dark. Savannah and Ava were so bummed to miss seeing this one. It was a yellow-eyed penguin.

After our first stop at Curio Bay we headed out to Porpus Bay. We got there just in time so see some dolphins (or more correctly, Porpuses) swimming close to the beach. Fun to see them in the wild. the girls were antsy to get there toes in the water.

Love this one of Alyssa

Savannah found the remnants of a limpet with the middle broken out. Made for a perfect ring.

Toes make the perfect writing utensil in the sand

A beautiful place to stop and play for a while.

The Catlins Coast... Waipapa Point

The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southland regions. It includes the South Island's southernmost point, Slope Point.

A rugged, sparsely populated area, the Catlins features a scenic coastal landscape and dense temperate rainforest, both of which harbour many endangered species of birds, most notably the rare yellow-eyed penguin. The coast attracts numerous marine mammals, among them New Zealand fur seals and Hooker's sea lions. In general terms the area enjoys a maritime temperate climate. Its exposed location leads to its frequently wild weather and heavy ocean swells, which are an attraction to big-wave surfers, and have also caused numerous shipwrecks.

After our lunch stop in Invercargill, we headed further south to see some sights along the Catlins Coast. There was more to see and do than we had time or energy to do, so we just did what we could. Our first stop was Waipapa Point. There was a beautful lighthouse there.

The coastline of the Catlins is notoriously dangerous, and there have been many shipwrecks in the region. The most notable of these, and also one of New Zealand's worst shipping disasters, was the wreck of the passenger steamer Tararua, en route from Port Chalmers to Melbourne via Bluff, which foundered off Waipapa Point on 29 April 1881 with the loss of all but 20 of the 151 people aboard.

Waipapa Point lies in the far southwest of the Catlins.

A lighthouse was built on the point in response to the tragedy; it began operating in 1884. With its sibling, the retired Kaipara North Head lighthouse, this was one of the last two wooden lighthouses built in New Zealand. It is still active, and was automated in 1976.

It was very beautiful but extremely winding when we were there. We walked around the lighthouse and down off the edge to explore the beach area. We had seen a sea lion from the top and wanted a better look at it so we went down to get a close up and see the waves and look for rocks and shells.

Love this picture. You can see Kayla's ponytail whipping in the wind.

There is a seal in the background. This one surprised us. We didn't even know this one was here until we nearly walked up on it. They are so sleepy. They don't even move when you are walking around them. This one looked especially dead. We saw it's feet moving so we knew it wasn't, but it looked very sunken in.

When we got around to the side of the point that had real sand and not just rocks the wind was really blowing. This was a memorable place because the wind was blowing so hard that the sand was blowing really hard on our ankles and legs. It was like pins jabbing into your legs. It hurt so bad. You can tell how uncomfortable we were in the pictures of Ava. Her face tells the story. So funny!!