New Zealand adventures: Waverly

She.....

Right after the Patea rivermouth day we found this place on the map. A beach that at low tide has crazy caves and possible surf. We found a nice spot to park and we took a walk around. It was simply magical and beautiful. Windy and misty the sun setting was awesome. Todd and I walked to a boat launch and beach area. You really felt like you were in another world, a chilly world J The colors and lighting mad it look surreal. There were cool caves, but I couldn’t get to them with the tide coming up and freezing waters. The rocks that sat in the black sand had holes in them and were funky colors, kind of felt like you were on the moon (see photo #8 below). There was a river that came out into the little bay area that made a soothing noise next to the waves crashing in the background. The next morning Todd went for a run and I went for another walk, the opposite side of the beach, to see if I could get to a cave or two and explore. Not too much luck with tide coming in, so I took off my shoes, rolled up my jeans, and went for it....The things you do for photos and exploration…..I nearly froze my feet off! I got back to the car to warm up and had a nice cup or tea with breakfast. After packing everything up Todd noticed something in the water. It was a little hard to locate, but it was a seal. My first wild seal. Eventually two of them came to shore, but they were as curious about us as we were to them (I of course ran to shore to get a closer look). After the seal encounter we were off.

He……

Waverly Beach was a gem. A real surprise and another time during the trip where the abundance of space, and natural beauty, makes everything in the world seem right….or trivial. Our drive south, after a surf, was just a spot on the map until we arrived. We parked on a bluff over looking the ocean, our view out was of rock sculptures big enough for a Volks Wagon to drive through. To me it was the Canyon Lands of Utah being flooded by the Tasman. As tide reversed itself once again, we walked down a boat ramp like road, and found ourselves looking up steep, colorful rock faces, that had been carved by Mother Ocean. As the sunset began warming up the faces became alive with mist from the waves, shadows throwing everywhere. A real trip as natural as it comes. We resumed to the van for the usual….Yahtzee, a glass of wine, and our beloved platter of cheese, sausage, crackers, and sliced olives and pickles. I was buzzed upon waking, as a deep sleep caressed by the sound of the ocean makes me wide awake…..so I ran. Exploring other parts of the beach and then heading out on the main road…..which was lined by cow and sheep pastures…..no cars ever passed me. We headed out around ten, but not before spotting 2 seals playing (or eating or mating) out in the ocean. This spot was so unique that you couldn’t help but to stare out to sea. As we had breakfast (and stared out to sea some more) the seals worked their way in and eventually came to lay around right where we walked down to the sea yesterday. It was our first time seeing a seal in the ocean and was one of many, fine animal stories of the trip. I’ll never forget it.