Cathedral Cove

We'd heard that Cathedral Cove is one of the places you don't want to miss while you're in New Zealand. We also heard you have to be there at low tide. So we looked up the tide schedule and saw that low tide was going to be at six a.m. on Saturday morning. Trouble is, it's about a two and a half hour drive away. But we were determined to do it right. So the alarm went off at 3:40 on Saturday morning (ugh! sacrifice!) We were on the road shortly after, and arrived at the car park just as things were beginning to get light. We had hoped to catch a pretty sunrise, but unfortunately, it was a grey day, and sunrise was kind of a non-event. So off we went down the trail to the cove, about a 45 minute walk. The actual cove is just tiny, but it was a very nice time of day, and we were the only ones there. This is what we saw when we arrived:

The "cathedral" is a big rock that cracked and has been hollowed out by time and the waves.

From inside the rock

and from the outside looking in.

This is the rock you see looking through the opening in the top pictures. See how the ocean has worn away at the base of the rock.

Lots of boulders in the next little inlet.

LOTS of them!

This was the view from the cliffs above.

And in the other direction on top of the cliffs, a valley in the far distance - really beautiful!

On the hike up from the beach, we saw several California Quail. Early in the morning there were two big ones and their "covey" of ten little ones skittering around all over. They have a big plume on their head.

This was a wild lilly growing among the scrub. It looks almost like an Easter Lilly, but see the maroon veins on the outside.


And our favorite find - blackberries! TONS of them! There were so many that we didn't begin to touch them. Not knowing we would hit a gold mine of berries, we had brought nothing to pick into, so we just had to eat them all! I don't think I've ever eaten my fill of blackberries, but we ate handfuls of them this time. Yummy!

As we were leaving, people began pouring into the cove, and we were glad for our early start! We drove home, had a nice afternoon nap, and were invited downstairs with our old lady neighbors to join them for a fish 'n' chips night. Another good New Zealand day!