We thought we would avoid the crowds and get to Cathedral Cove early to avoid the crowds. It was only a few miles south, in amongst endless islands. We were the only boat anchored there but there were already quite a lot of people who had either walked in or arrived by water taxi, which had huge wheels to drive up onto the beach. We got JedliJeldi down and went into the cove beach, but there was a nasty breaking wave on the and we don’t have wheels on. We watched a group of canoes go onto the beach, we decided to go back to PolePole and go in on the kayak. We nailed catching a wave in and did not embarrass ourselves getting out, which was a real achievement. The Cathedral arch is quite astonishing, with it’s white sandy beach. The photos will do it more justice than my writing.
Afterwards we headed back across the bay as the weather is closing in, with rain forecast all tomorrow. We also needed protection from the north winds, we headed to the bay where we had lunch with Rowan’s Uni friends. There were no other boats so we had the pick of the place. We went in for a walk in the afternoon, sadly the paths looked closed so we could only walk on the newly resurfaced road, which was a very steep climb. A wonderful small collection of Batches (homes) here, it really feels very remote. We had good views from the top, with panoramic views in two directions. Back at the beach we noticed signs and sticks asking walkers to avoid the nesting Dotterels and Oyster Catchers. The Dotterels are so brave and tried to shoo us away, but wonder why they thought they could just lay their eggs on the beach with no protection.
Calm waters in the morning
So much birdlife
Think this is a Fluttering Shearwater
The birds hardly budged out of the way
Inaccessible little beaches
The Cathedral arch
Clear, clear water
Extraordinary rock formations
Dramatic cliffs
Chickening out of taking the dinghy onto the beach…. note we have our life jackets on!
The arch with white sand all the way through
A beach surrounded by high cliffs
The Pohutukawas clinging on
PolePole out there on the water
Can’t get enough good pics!
On our way back across the bay
Our walk up the hill, looking back at PolePole in the anchorage, in the distance are the Mayor and Alderman islands
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