More of New Year's Eve at Muriwai

This is the last of three posts about our New Year's Eve at Muriwai Beach.  

We had arrived about an hour and a half before sunset and spent the time before it exploring. I showed you my sunset photos on New Year's Day.  Then,you saw the cave pictures in my last post. In this one, I have shots of Allie and the boys and of how the Muriwai blowhole has changed with time.  

One last picture as we leave the cave. 

Part of the gannet colony. 

Allie and the boys head off on a jaunt to the rocks below the gannet colony.

They're not climbing up to the birds, but they are across the channel from the rock shelf I am going to show you next.  

These next two pictures were taken on 04-03-15.  You can see the  blowhole.  

The rest of these photos were taken on New Year's Eve 2019. 

I probably should have hiked up to the top of the hill and taken another shot from the 2015 location so the comparison in the blowhole size would be most obvious, but I didn't feel like climbing all those stairs.  

Instead, these were taken on the blowhole rock shelf. You will see how much larger the blowhole has become.  It's pretty obvious. 

This is the channel that the waves follow in to the blowhole.

It's low tide so this puny little wave will hardly make it to the end of the channel.  It shows what the wave action is like though. 

 I think you can see that this blowhole is now huge.

Notice the 'bridge' of rock at the other end of the hole.

 The water would come in from the channel beyond the bridge and through the opening at the very center of the picture. 

 I'm now standing at the edge of the bridge, looking across.  

The open channel to the sea is on the left. The new expanded blowhole is on the right. 

I think if you go back to the first picture from 2015, you'll see a small hole next to the blowhole. The small hole in the 2015 picture is now the somewhat larger hole you see at the end of this bridge. 

I've started walking across the bridge. Look at how much rock has collapsed into the hole.  I don't know when we'll get back out here at high tide to see the action, but I doubt that this throws much water up any more. It's probably not a blowhole any longer, just a hole. Maybe a 'splashy hole' at best. 

This is the view on the opposite side of the shelf of rock from the channel to the blowhole.  Folks are snapping pictues all over the place. 

In the next picture, I'm going to be standing where the girl just above is now standing. 

I'm looking back toward the beach. 

I'm heading back to rendezvous with Jeanne and Allie and the boys.

We had a wonderful evening and kept our traditon alive. Thanks for sharing it with us.    -djf