Petrified Forests and Cathedral Caves

The Catlins lie along the southeastern coast of South New Zealand. The scenic ride along Highway 92 winds 172 kilometer. It is sometimes bumpy, sometimes rough along it's 55 kilometers of gravel, but it is well worth the shakes, rattles and frequent repair jobs to the glove-box latch.

Our first stop along this hilly, sheep-covered route was Curio Bay. Accessible only at low tide, here in one of the world's finest fossilized forest, lie trees that are over 180 million years old.

Our next journey was again to a place carved out by time, the Cathedral Caves near Chaslands. We pulled into the car park just as low tide was nearing its final lunar pull. We walked through the bush and finally onto sand that spread further than the eye could see. At the edge of the beach were sheer cliffs and amongst the cliffs, monstrous sea-etched caverns.

We spent hours walking through their grand entrances and into their darkness where they narrowed and narrowed to shoulder width and then less. In one cave a constant dripping drew us to a dark corner. When we turned on our flashlights we saw a perfectly circular pool in the sand. "What's there?" I asked. I hunched over pink and black specks bouncing and clambering up the sides of the pond. "I think they're shrimp," John said. Closer inspection revealed the little legs of tiny cave shrimp. In fact all around us a host of unusual shellfish and mollusks clung to the cave walls which themselves were patterned with red and orange and dripped weavings of green and white algae. A cathedral indeed!

Back on Highway 92 we passed Florence Hill Lookout and Tunnel Hill, a tunnel excavated by hand in 1893 for the Bathclutha Owaka Railway (no longer in operation). We walked its 200 meter length yelling "Echo, Echo, Echo" and every weird noise we could think of that would rebound in eerie waves. Halfway back through my resonating words got the best of me. From the darkness behind me I felt that spine- crawling sense that I was being followed.

The scenery continued to impress us as we drove up to Nugget Point. It was here that we saw what we consider the highlight of our trip through the Catlins. From a viewing blind above the beach we watched the rare Hooker Sea Lions play and sleep on the sand.

At 1:30 pm our attention shifted. The limelight fell upon a lone Yellow-Eyed penguin waddling away from the water's edge. These are the rarest penguins in the world with only 3000 breading pairs remaining. This one stretched his flippers and yawned, waved his head and worked his way up the beach to his burrow on the cliff. From the viewing blind we fixed on his tiny pink feet, his black and white body and his yellow-banded eyes. When he reached the rocks, he negotiated them by hopping and stretching his legs apart to their limit.

Once he had hopped out of sight we headed to the lighthouse further uphill. At the top the wind was fierce but the views incredible. Wind sculptured sea-stacks sat far below us and in between them swam families of fur seals. Tired of battling the wind, we headed back to the viewing blind in time for the appearance of two more penguins. One waddled a bit then waited for the other to catch up.

Over all, our four days spent in the Catlins was remarkable. I'd recommend it to anyone.