Our first planned REAL stop was the Katiki Point Lighthouse, not far from the Moeraki Beach Boulders. Last time we were here, I had managed to capture the Boulders themselves - at sunrise and at low tide. Almost perfect conditions that I could not hope to recreate this time. So we opted to spend some time at the other place we had visited that time and wanted to experience again. Katiki Lighthouse Point has changed a lot since we were there last, with the Penguin blind now blocked off, and a groomed path for the first stretch to keep people off Maori sacred land and a farmer's private land. It's sad that they had to do that, because people aren't respecting either nature nor the landowner. But there is a donation box to help support the maintenance of the gravel path, and we happily contributed.
One thing hadn't changed - this place is still habited by a number of sea lions, many of whom were lounging on the rocks, splashing around in the water, the youngsters were playing, and there was a general feeling a sea lion spa going on. There were also a few gulls, just to keep things interesting, and a couple of other birds who shall remain nameless for now (until I can take the time to do a Google Image search). How magical!
The walk down and up takes about 25 minutes each way - up takes longer than down. But it's so worth it. The wind blows all the yucky stuff out of your brain, and the sea air is fresh and soul-filling. Being so close to nature in the raw - and at the same time giving nature the space it deserves and needs - gives me the perfect blend of peace and creativity. My cameras are going mad, seemingly by themselves.
We don't want to leave - but we know we must. So eventually we make our way back to the top, and sadly take one last look at the view from the top, and continue on our way. We have punched the location for the Elephant Rocks into the GPS/Google maps, and it has taken us off the main highway to go around Oamaru - which is fine with us. However, after half an hour or so, we're pretty hungry. Since we still have some snacks in the car - and there aren't many cafes around from what we have seen, we pull into the Five Forks School parking area. Not ideal, but it's somewhat shady, and quiet - there don't seem to be any children in school - at least not today, or not at this time.
We approach Elephant Rocks - the drive up is again a unique landscape, with rock outcroppings along the top ridges of the hills, as though the rock were pushing through like it probably did thousands of years ago. Elephant rocks is also on a farmer's property - good reason to carry cash everywhere, so that you can make donations. The rocks were in such interesting shapes, and of all sizes and shapes, but many were two or even three storeys high it seemed. Watch out for the sheep and rabbit poo..... We had seen this formation on Google Images when we planned our last trip, and opted to miss it due to timing. When we turned into the parking lot this time, we were so glad we hadn't missed it this time around.
The rocks themselves are so much bigger than I was expecting, and there were so many more of them than I thought from the photos I had seen online. It seemed to be a pretty popular place, even though it was way off the beaten track. It struck me that it would be an amazing place to take sunrise or sunset photos, but of course that would require staying overnight nearby - and there really wasn't much around!
We spent a fair bit of time here too, totally and completely in awe of the forces of nature we were experiencing all around us. Not just today, but over the thousands of years it took to put this landscape together. The rocks appear to be made of sponge toffee (the name for it in Canada), known as hokey pokey here in NZ.
We didn't want to leave this place either, it seemed like Narnia - and we found out later that several scenes from the movie had been filmed here. No wonder, it really did seem like the place where Aslan was.... ok I won't give away the story. But if you know the story, or have seen the movie, this place would hold a special appeal.
We finally let go of the place, and followed the road to Duntroon, a small town just up the road, and pretty much on the way to where we were going. We stopped and had an iced coffee in the Duntroon Hotel, very briefly, as we had decided to push through to Twizel and skip the Clay Cliffs for today so we could have dinner with my friend Ian at Poppie's - a place that he felt had the best food in Twizel. We stopped first at the Air B&B we had booked, a lovely house on a side street that had everything we needed, including laundry. It had a bedroom for each of us and we could stretch out for a couple of days, and really make ourselves feel at home. The hostess was keen to make sure everything was in it's place and we had what we needed, and we assured her it was great! As it turned out, we wouldn't spend much time there.
After such amazing day so far, we felt we should also have a great meal - so Poppie's it was, and for me it was Filet mignon, potatoes and veggies, then dessert was panna cotta with a passionfruit topping, a small meringue slice, and bits of hokey pokey - just like the rocks we'd seen earlier.
After dinner, we went back to the house to quickly change and go to shoot the sunset, which Ian had seen building up, and knew exactly where to take us for some great photos. We only had 20 minutes before the light would be amazing, so we quickly changed, and then were off again, to see some pretty nice colour over the lake.
There was even a rowing race on the lake while we were there - although it may have been a practice run. I did capture some video, but will have to share it later on my YouTube channel - I simply don't have time right now to upload all the video I've taken!
When the sunset was finished, and the colour gone, we went back to the house to share a glass or twp of wine. The plan had long been to see the Milky Way and the Southern Cross. When we were here in 2017, our hosts in Blenheim had seen to it that we would see the Southern Cross, but we were so tired by the time we reached their home, we barely remembered it. This time, we were determined, and as luck would have it, tonight there was a new moon, and mostly clear skies. And a friend that could help us photograph the myriad of stars in the sky with very little light pollution. After all, we were quite close (relatively) to a Dark Sky reserve.
We were hoping to also see some Aurora Australis, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough sunspot activity - or rather it wasn't strong enough - to see much of that. But after a couple of tries in finding a place without any cloud at all, Ian was successful in getting us to place with very clear, dark skies. Better photos were captured with my "real" camera, but for a cellphone camera, this wasn't bad.
It was almost 1 a.m. when we got back to the house, dead tired but super happy - elated even. It had been a very long, but amazing day, and we could not believe it could get any better tomorrow. But as you will see, it did.
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