The Catlins 2

Saturday / Sunday                Return to Thursday / Friday

Again another early start for the sunrise.  

A cloudy sky greeted me before any hint of an orange sunrise but there was the possibility of a long exposure was worth trying to see what would happen .

A blue dawn. The picnic table and cabbage tree  
are lit by a nearby streetlight.

The blue dawn comes before the familiar red / orange colours. (This is because blue has a greater refractive index so this part of the spectrum appears before the red end.) There was very little colour at the red end this morning.

After an early breakfast we left by 0800hrs to be down at the Cathedral Caves so that we could gain access at low tide.

There is a steep descent down through some nice bush which takes about 30 minutes.

Lots of emerging mihas or korus as the fern fronds start to unfurl.

More interesting rock layers along the beach before we came to the cliffs where the caves were.

First entrance to the caves

Second entrance, only accessible a very low tide

The two caves meet about 100m into the cliff. A rockfall marks where they join. It was too dark to photograph.

Towards one of the entrances

After a steep climb back up the the carpark it was then off to the McLean Falls, this time in the rain.

The walk up to the McLean Falls is not too strenuous following the river.

Rain drops and spray on the lens at the McLean Falls.

This ended a long morning which stretched into around 2 pm before we got back for lunch. The next trip was out to Jacks Bay and on to the Devils Blowhole. Like the Cathedral Caves, the adjacent caves (inaccessible at sealevel) extended around 100 m into the land but where they meet the rocks above had collapsed.

A 55m drop down to sea level here.

 

With a relatively gentle swell surging in there was very little "blowing" happening. With a gale southerly whipping up big swells and high tide it would a be spectacle worth walking in to see.

Sunday 

Up again early today, in the hope of a good sunrise that Pounawea is renown for, I was not disappointed. 

Pounawea waterfront in the golden hour around sunrise.

All good things must come to an end! So it was time to pack up and clean up the lodge after breakfast before heading for home before stopping at Surat Bay.

Catlins Heads

Sea-lions are common on the beaches here.

Pounawea across the Catlins River

On a fine calm day Surat Bay would be great but as there was quite a stiff southerly blowing and there were no sea lions and few birds on the beach itself, the above three photos conclude our visit.

Hope you get inspired to go and spend time in the Catlins. We will be back!

Return to Thursday / Friday

The Catlins 1

Thursday / Friday: 

 We recently returned from a long weekend trip to the bottom south east coast of the South Island in New Zealand.

Arriving on a Thursday afternoon I set off with the camera after checking in to our accomodation. On the way in an old ship caught my eye so it was off to get a close up of it.

The Portland 

• Records at the Owaka Museum show the boat was built by George T. Niccol, of Auckland, in 1910.

• Originally owned by Wilsons (NZ) Portland Cement, it traded in the Auckland area until 1932, when it went to Nelson and traded between the Tasman Bay harbours and Wellington for more than 40 years.

• The Portland is the only surviving hold scow in New Zealand. Most of these ships were taken to the Pacific for war use and never came back.

• Originally powered by sail, it was later fitted with diesel engines. 

(Otago Daily Times, 17 January 2016)

The alarm was set for 0520 next morning in the hope that there would be a good sunrise. Being on the waterfront at Pounawea and the tide well in I was not disappointed. The following photos will do the talking for me.

The flat water made for powerful reflections. Well worth getting up early!

After breakfast it was time the head across to the Catlins Heads on the south side. First stop was near the head of Catlins Lake, a tidal estuary. The Catlins was extensively logged and there were around 7 jetties where the logs were shipped out.

Remains of one old wharf

Carrying on a dusty road to the end we headed off out along the beach and rocks now that the tide had receded. 

What caught my eye were the rock formations and the seaweeds and algae on the sand.

Often the smaller things on the beach have their own attraction as the following show and are worth stopping to admire.

Neptune's necklace.

Sea lettuce

The softer seaweeds survive the surf better amongst the rocks that shells which were noticeably absent. 

The following rocks formations are all sedimentary but how they formed is somewhat of a mystery to me.

Ollie about to follow us as we leave to our next stop.

After a walk along the beach at Jacks Bay, the next stop was one of the Catlins most iconic scenic spots and photographed a million or more times, the Purakaunui Falls.  

The walk to the falls is through bush along this small river
which tumbles over them crossing this bridge.

Purakounui Falls, photographed countless times;
this one is up there with some of then better ones.

The day ended at the Nuggets.  

This ended the first part of our stay in the Catlins. It was great being able to photograph the various attractions without hordes of tourists posing for selfies! A consequence of New Zealand's strict COVID-19 measures.

The next two days are here Catlins 2.

San Francisco

Flying from Flagstaff to San Francisco via Phoenix saw us arriving at our hotel in Fishermans Wharf for nearly a week's stay.


One is spoilt for a choice of things to do and see when based here.

The cable car provided us with the first opportunity to explore San Francisco. 

Ready for departure to Market Street.

Having purchased our day pass at an adjacent kiosk for 23USD we were promptly informed by the conductor that it is only 12USD from him! 

Another day we hired e-bikes and set off over the bridge with a lunch stop at Sausilito in Marin County.

Fort Point

The bike shop told us that we would get 22 miles if we left it on power setting 2. By using the settings when needed we managed a 42 mile ride with over 50% of the battery power left.

After lunch we set off for Mill Valley to visit some giant redwood trees. It was a few miles uphill but the e-bikes came into their own.

Mill Valley redwoods

It was Saturday when we did the bike tour. (Thursday that week was when I went out to Yosemite NP blog). On the way down the valley both our phones received emergency warnings for possible bush fires in Marin County. The wind was expected to increase and that the power might have to be turned off for 2 million customers. More about the fires in October 2019 at the end of this blog.


Biking towards Tiburon for the ferry back to Pier 39 at Fishermans Wharf we were confronted by a steep incline. Using power setting 5, once the pedals were engaged we literally flew up the hill effortlessly. 

The Painted Ladies

A night time tour of Alcatraz (aka "The Rock") produced the opportunity to capture a nice sunset on the way over.

Golden Gate bridge sunset

Alcatraz

Alcatraz near the jetty.

 

New inmates to the prison were first given their prison clothes and other items.

Clothing issue store

Towels and toiletries issued here.

Next stop was the shower room.

No privacy in the shower room.

One of the cell blocks

Alcatraz had a maximum number of cells of  over 300. The maximum number of inmates was around 280. It was for the most dangerous prisoners with one riot when a number of guards were shot with stolen weapons. The Battle of Alcatraz took place in May 1946. No executions took place here. 

Al Capone's cell

In June 1962 the only escape from Alcatraz occurred. Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers John and Clarence escaped through holes in the cell walls they had chiselled out and into service tunnels.  Nothing more was ever heard from them, so did they make it or perish in the cold waters of San Francisco Bay? Various theories exist as to what happened them. Certainly the cold water and strong tidal currents meant that a swim to shore would be unlikely to be successful.

Escapee's cell

One the attractions in San Francisco is the extensive maritime museum. I spent most of one day there in brilliant sunshine and clear skies.

Martime Museum 

Pride of place is the last remaining operational of 2,710 Liberty Ships built during WW2, the Jeremiah O'Brien.

Jeremiah O'Brien

Alcatraz through the gunsight of a
20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun on the Jeremiah O'Brien

Sunday 27 October was our last day in San Francisco with breakfast at the sourdough bakery. Next a hop-on-hop off bus tour before heading to the airport for the long flight back to Melbourne then onto Wellington. Whilst at the airport we could see a huge bank of smoke spilling over the hills on the other side of the bay. The bush fires were starting to cause havoc in several parts of California by now. By Monday the whole bay area was choked with smoke. We were lucky to be blessed with fine clear skies and warm temperatures.

Yosemite blog.