This last Saturday, March 1st, we took another drive down to the Catlins to check out the Cathedral Caves. These are caves on the beach only accessible at low tide. Of course the day we went the sign at the road said "closed to high seas." We thought we'd check it out anyway and walked a few miles up a dirt road before coming the the trail to the beach. Once at the beach we were able to make it to the caves. The sea was rough, but we could get to the caves by running through knee-high ice-cold water. The caves were beautiful. It's really just one cave with two openings so you can walk through it. We didn't stay too long since the tides were coming in.
It was a little spooky since we didn't have flashlights, and the day was so gray and rainy. The really icky thing was when you stepped on seaweed in the dark part of the cave, and you just hoped it wasn't something really nasty.
The caves are just between these two cliffs, well, actually you can see one of the cave openings in the further cliff. I think normally the water is lower so you can reach them without getting soaked like we did. That's probably why the sign said "closed for high seas." The only other people we ran into were a group of American students studying at the University of Otago. I think the weather turned other tourists away.
Wearing our merino sweaters like true New Zealanders. Merino really does stand up well to all the rain and cold here.
This is on the forest trail leading to the beach. It seemed like a rain forest, especially since it was raining. There were giant ferns and moss growing all over everything. The tree I'm standing under was huge and covered with all sorts of plants and mosses. We joked as we were walking through the forest that someone was playing one of those relaxation albums called something like "Songs of the Forest" since the birds sounded so clear and almost tropical.
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