Part 3... Earth and Narnia share a beach...

I'm going to start off today's post with a video. It's from the movie Return to Narnia. The picture I'm showing you below is very close to the scene in the movie that appears in this clip at second 49. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkXvdIPgyTA

That's Arram walking in the water and Amiri, standing on a rock. 

I've shown you this by way of introduction to Cathedral Cove. Our day started with a visit here, and subsequent posts will show you the rest of our busy day at Mare's Leg Beach, which lies at the other end of this tunnel in the rock, the town of Hahei and Hot Water Beach. 

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I'll back up now to the beginning of our adventurous day... 

The adults are up having coffee and opening the blinds all around...Looks like it will be a good day for our trip to Cathedral Cove. 

Pretty soon, the kids are up, and we have breakfast. Our backpacks fill up with bottles of water, energy bars and snacks of various sorts. We stop at a bakery on our way out of town and load up on sandwiches for lunch. Here we go...

Although the Cove is only 6 miles away as the crow flies, it's about a 40 minute drive to get to it, because there is no car ferry across the harbor in Whitianga. We had to drive all the way around said harbor, and it is a large one, that stretches quite a ways inland.

On our way to the cove, we passed the road that would take us, later in the day, to Hot Water Beach and drove through the little town of Hahei, where we would later refresh our tired muscles with tea or ice cream, depending on which generation we belonged to. 

So, here we go...

We have now arrived at the carpark for the trail leading to the cove.

There is a viewing platform....

 Looking to the right. That's Hahei in the distance.

 To the left lies the cove. It doesn't look like it, but it's about a mile and half to the cove.

In this video I pan across the scene. Amiri is getting bored I think with the wait for us to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7hby5OtJKs&feature=youtu.be

 We did finally start. I thought it might be all downhill. It was at first. We went down about 300 feet, then back up 290, down 300, up 250 again and finally down about 350 to the beach.  

 It became clear very early in the hike, that Jeanne and I were going to fall way behind Allie and the boys. We opted to take our time and not have heart attacks along the way. 
This was the scene that greeted us when we finally arrived at the beach. Allie had selected a site for our blanket, backpacks and so on, and the boys were already having sandwiches. She selected wisely. It stayed shady all day and the beach got very busy. We had one of the best spots available. 

 We're currently on Mare's Leg Beach. We'll look at this beach soon. In the meantiime, there is the cave through to Cathedral Cove.
Let's go...

 Anticipation... I can't believe we're actually here. 

 And here we are...but let's back up a little and watch a video of coming through the cave...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6rzTjxU_yk&t=6s

 This is the view to the left as you walk out of the cave. 

Looking down the beach. This is the beach the kids in the movie played on. 

 Looking back toward the cave opening

 Te Hoho from the far side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U4zqBe2WMw

 The boys standing on a rock

I'm very grateful that as a kid, I was able to spend lots of time at Sunday Lake Beach in Wakefield. I'm even more grateful that my grandsons are able to experience this water play at such an astounding place as Cathedral Cove. I don't think they yet realize the opportunities that have been given to them. 

Look at those colours. I wish you could all feel the sun on your back and the waves at your feet.  

Crouching in a corner of the cave 

 This picture across the width of the cave gives you a little better feel for its size. 

Well, that's about it for this post. 

To end it, here's a video that starts on the Cathedral Cove side and rolls over the ceiling of the cave to the Mare's Leg Beach side of things. That's the next post. That side is every bit as amazing.   -djf 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxjLKgKQ5BI