📷 Somewhere on the Edge of the World. New Zealand. Part 12

A walk to the Nugget Point Lighthouse is remembered for its magnificent views of both the lighthouse from afar and the magical views of the coast, coastal cliffs and rocky "nugget" islands, from which the place got its name. The lighthouse has been operating since the second half of the 19th century, now with modern improvements, of course.

2500px

Upstairs at the lighthouse itself, there are comfortable and safe fenced areas, where you can sit on a bench and take a break after climbing along the path, or you can just stand and look down at the “nuggets” rocks. Boundless, vibrant ocean, foamy waves, rocks... beautiful! And then a double rainbow happened. If you're lucky, you can see some of the inhabitants of the ocean: sea lions, seals and, of course, birds.

2500px

Norway is famous for fjords, but New Zealand also have some. For example, Milford Sound, which can be reached by car through a tunnel in the rock. When we arrived there, the weather turned bad, clouds swirled over the peaks and it was quite chilly. Still in this place, according to the stories, an unpleasant midge lives. But, apparently, the weather was not flying for them, and they did not annoy us.

Maori call this bay "Piopiotahi". When the New Zealand folklore hero Maui died, trying to win immortality for people, here, mourning his death, a piopio flew — already extinct New Zealand bittern.

2500px

The next day we planned a mini-cruise in the fjords, but ...

Early morning. We sit, have breakfast, don’t touch anyone, drink coffee, and then a camping employee comes in and says that the weather forecast is very unfavorable, they promise a blizzard and the only tunnel will be closed after an hour, and when it'll be opened — nobody knows, maybe a few days later. There are a lot of interesting things in the surroundings, but in bad weather there is nothing to do here, so we gather incredibly quickly and leave with many campers. On the road a little higher it is already snowing, and strong gusts of wind rock our minibus. Feeling as if I were in a catastrophe film and it will only get worse... But no, we drive through the tunnel, go down, and now the sun is overboard, and there are smiles on our faces. Broke through!

2500px

Some rivers have a very beautiful color. For example, a view of the largest river in New Zealand, Kawarau (Kawarau). Some glacier has definitely helped here.

2500px

Surroundings of a ski resort in a mountain range The Remarkables. Here in some places snow already lies. If you go a little further, you can walk to a small pond.

2500px

We had a walk along the track Mistake Creek. Not for long, at the very beginning — just to have time to enjoy the picturesque forest along which the path passed. There at every step — the interweaving of branches and roots, the lush coverings of mosses, sometimes illuminated by the breaking sun, a lot of moisture in the air and land. And at the end of our walk we had a portion of adrenaline in the form of a suspension bridge (one string under your feet and two for your arms) through a small but turbulent river.

2500px

Cathedral Caves on Waipati Beach. It is necessary to come to this place at the opening — at eight in the morning. Why? Because already at lunch you can’t get into these caves. These are rather long system of caves, which are filled with sea water, but are available at low tide and some time before and after it. In the morning you can go inside... almost without problems. So, we arrived on time. Those who have been there before immediately told us to wear sandals instead of any shoes. "Not very dry, but normal," I thought, and prepared to take pictures.

2500px

And then I hear screams behind me, I turn around and ... oh! Waves are coming right at us, one by one, and the first is already very close. I did not have time to climb to the very top of the “steps” and only held the camera and bag with lenses in outstretched arms, and I was wet almost to the waist. Well, at least the water is warm. What is going on here at lunch?

2500px

Although it was already a little scary, but we still went inside. We just set the sentinels and glance over the waves — this way we could stay dry and pose a little like Usain Bolt. There are several more caves further, but we didn’t get to them - I think, it’s better to go there in a wetsuit)

2500px

To be continued... ;)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11

Camera: OLYMPUS E-M1 MarkII and DJI Mavic 2 Pro

---

P.S.One small but important note. Because this post was made for the TravelFeed.io project through its interface, it seems to me that all links work correctly only when viewing through TravelFeed.io. This applies to both text links and high-resolution image links. So, if some links don't work, but you are interested in them — follow the links at the beginning or at the end of the post.

You can also see my photos in my blogs on LJ and Golos and in my profile on NatGeo

---

Disclosure: Posts on TravelFeed may contain affiliate links. See affiliate disclosure.