Cathedral Cove with Mom

Well, this gap between posts is ever-so-slightly shorter than the last one, so I'm calling that a success. Still, sorry for the gap, but we've been quite busy.

Mom and I went on a trip that circled quite a chunk of the north island: north-east to the Glass Blowing Studio near Lake Taupo, north from there to Rotorua for some geothermal sights, north-west from there to the Coromandel Peninsula for some beautiful beaches, then south-west to Hamilton and the gardens, where I left Mom to collaborate for a few days with Kiwi colleagues, then south-west back to New Plymouth. It was a fantastic trip, full of beautiful sights and wonderful company. I got home fairly late on Sunday and then went back to work on Monday, and I can't believe how fast the week has gone by! Mom got back on Tuesday night, just in case you're wondering.

I am not going in chronological order for these pictures, so I'm starting with Cathedral Cove, which is on the Coromandel and is pretty amazing! We were lucky to get a gorgeous, warm, sunny day, which one cannot count on in the dead of winter. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Ocean view as we started our half-hour walk to Cathedral Cove.

This amazing archway is where the cove gets its name. Picture perfect, isn't it?

This is looking back from the other side after we walked through.

You can only walk through when the tide is most of the way out, because otherwise there is water all the way through it.

This rock is very important because as we saw other pretty sights along the Coromandel, Mom kept saying, "But I think there should be tall rocks without many plants on them. I think that's what I saw that was so beautiful and made me want to come to the Coromandel." Never having been there myself, I wasn't sure how exactly to satisfy this wish, but then... tah dah! Mission accomplished! And it was even more beautiful than expected!

Seriously, this rock is amazing. Turns out, it's made of pumice, which is abundant in NZ. It is slowly being carved away by the water, especially at the bottom. You'll notice that it's resting on an ever-shrinking base. Pumice is fairly easily eroded, but it also weighs next to nothing, and so is not motivated to topple over. I wonder how long it will last? I hope a long time, because I kind of love it.

The whole beach was beautiful and pristine. Mom kept noticing (all over NZ) how there was little to no litter. I guess I've just gotten used to it, but it is definitely nice!

Also, a nice thing about going in winter is that there weren't too many people. Winter crowds with warm, sunny weather is pretty perfect.

This is another interestingly-shaped chunk of pumice, on the other side of the archway.

On the way back, we took a different route, which lead us by these huge rocks all covered in beautiful moss. It's a bit hard to tell, but it really was cool, because they seemed so alive. It looked like the rocks were just about to jump up and form into some big, friendly rock giant.

We also went to this lookout over what I believe is Stingray Bay. We were blown away by those colours!

I can't get enough of views of the ocean. Never.

That is convenient, because it turns out that about two minutes from that ocean view is exactly my spot in the world. Emma Place.

I am learning to take panoramas on my phone. This one is from the viewing platform before you start the hike down to the cove. (If you click on it, you can see it bigger.)