Nugget Point Lighthouse + Roaring Bay

Friends, just about every day I'm stunned by the beauty of NZ. Occasionally I'm staggered. This was one of those days.

But let's back up, because the drive on this bluest of mornings was a treat itself. Starting off from Kaka Point, where we're camping, we drove south. (What we call The Yikes Sign was warning of flooding, likely form yesterday's rains. One wonders how close that ocean can come without taking out the road.)

Here's a map (click here if viewing in email to see map).

See the tiny white dot at far left atop the small landform? It's the lighthouse!

Some surprising dwellings along this road, many of them modest. Are you keeping an eye on the lighthouse?

We're wending our way up and up some more.

The road ahead evokes James Bond in his Aston Martin, downshifting around the turns. (We took it slowly but surely.)

Nearer the lighthouse we parked in a lot and walked the rest of the glorious way, the only way you'd want to do it.

Soon the lighthouse pulls into view. The path up to it reminds me of the one to the witch's castle in the Wizard of Oz.

You'd have to be a very good witch to live here.

Have a little video from this point (click here if reading in email to view vid).

Finally, a generous viewing platform, which is a good thing because I'm still staggered by the view.

Looking straight down...

Our greedy eyes can't let go.

Oh, yes. There's a lighthouse. Is it a buzzkill that it's managed now from Wellington or the coolest thing ever?
The lighthouse was built from 1869 to 1870 and first lit on 4 July 1870.^[1] The tower was constructed from locally quarried stone. The lighting apparatus that was installed had come to New Zealand on the same ship as the lighthouse designer James Balfour in 1863 and was originally intended for the lighthouse at Cape Saunders. With the project on Otago Peninsula experiencing many delays, the lighting apparatus was used at Nugget Point instead.^[4][5]

In 1901 Walter Hutton Champion was the lighthouse keeper along with his wife Alice.
Originally, the lighthouse was powered by an oil burner. In 1949 the oil lamp was replaced with an electric 1000 W lamp powered by a local diesel generator. The generator was replaced in the 1960s by a connection to the mains grid although the original lens for the light remained in place and continued to be used.^[1]

The light was fully automated in 1989 and is now monitored and managed from a Maritime New Zealand control room in Wellington. In 2006, the original light was replaced with an LED beacon, powered by mains and backed up by battery.

But back to the nuggets. A lovely young woman from Invercargill, showing her Australian boyfriend around The Catlins (her girlhood backyard), snapped this one.

There's a cave down there at about 4 o'clock. I zoom in wondering how deep it goes.

Turning to the right, one sees this. We feast on these views for a long time, grateful for the extraordinary light today.

 

On the walk back down, still more drama.

Roaring Bay

Just a scant kilometer down from the parking area is Roaring Bay, a churning mass of water whose steeps sides hold a blind/hide where you can scan the rocky shores for yellow-eyed penguins.

Our light has definitely downshifted.

We popped inside and looked for a while, but the penguins don't usually come wandering ashore until about 3 pm this time of year and it's 1 o'clock now.

I did catch a shot from the hide of a NZ fur seal lounging (at about 9 o'clock).

One more time? Here's another video--audio too (click here if reading in email to view vid.)

A Rainy July 4th + NZ Wins America's Cup

No worries, as they say here. The fourth of July with its intermittent explosives has never been a welcome holiday. Instead, we caught up in the caravan as the rain pattered down, escaping mid-afternoon for a late lunch at The Point in Kaka Point, roiling dark clouds and waves in the background.

Blue cod for me and a hamburger with onion ring tower for Art. Life is pretty good.

Team NZ won the America's Cup, you might have seen. We were rooting for them. There will be a big bash in Auckland on Thursday to welcome the crew--and the trophy--home.

  photo: Ricardo Pinto

The Auld Mug was strapped into two seats, safely ensconced in its Louis Vuitton suitcase.

The cup is travelling from Bermuda to New York, then on to Dubai, home of main sponsor Emirates, before arriving in New Zealand on Wednesday.

The silverware, that stands 1.1m tall and weighs more than 14kg, travels in a purpose-built Louis Vuitton trunk, in business or first class flanked by two security guards according to Yachting World (ed. note: sweet deal for the trophy).

 

"It's an amazing privilege. You've got the oldest sporting trophy in the world, in New Zealand and in our cabinet. It's the Everest of sailing," said Porter....The 70cm high, 10kg sterling silver trophy depicts a clash of passing sails. It also echoes Louis Vuitton's famous "V" mark, drafted in the 1930s to encapsulate the brand's values of Volez, Voguez, Voyagez - fly, sail, travel.

Duck Confit, Kaka Point Beach, and The Point Cafe and Bar

Morning dawned bright and blue. It's winter here, and though we've enjoyed an extremely livable 50F this last week, we get up before the sun is high enough in the sky to provide a boost of warmth, 

It's a big morning for us: we're going to open the giant can of duck confit that Art picked up at a grocery near Nelson. Just duck legs, duck fat, and salt. New to duck confit? Click here to learn its history, but remember ours is already fully cooked and preserved.

The legs go into the oven for 15 minutes and then under the broiler for five. This is the first time we've tried the broiler--I barely knew we had one.

Art lights the wee broiler

Meantime, I'm cooking potatoes in duck fat with a big handful of silverbeet (chard) thrown in for the green.

The broiler worked beautifully! Look at that crispy skin. This is a deeply delicious product we'll be looking for again. We might even bring some cans home in our suitcases--it's that good.

 Breakfast

Art does the clean-up, I finish work, and we're out for a walk. Our campground is set against a native bush reserve and it's just a few blocks to the beach.

Whale mailbox.

Walk with us.

Seaweed bundles dot the beach. The tide comes all the way up here when it's in. I don't have pictures but I swear we saw two ponies, one dark and one white, rollicking happily on the beach.

Not the swimming/surfing portion of Kaka beach.

Way out there on the headland, I spy a house that looks worthy of closer examination.

 Can you imagine living right there?

Just around that hill about six miles on is Nugget Point Lighthouse, one of NZ's oldest and much photographed by people with far greater skills than mine. Click here for original. We'll go see it tomorrow.

The house pictured above is one of a group nestled on Willsher Bay.

We walked back into a full sun, warming by the minute. There's just one commercial establishment in town, the aptly named Point Cafe and Bar. 

Inside, a trove of binders filled with Kaka Point history...and some illuminating photos.

The Point Fishing Camp

The working committee of the Willsher Bay Caledonian society (1900)

Every year on New Year's day, the Port Molyneux Caledonian Society held their annual sports day on the beach at Port Molyneux and by 1874, had moved to the Willsher Domain. People came from far and wide to enjoy the events of the day. As well as the sporting competitions, there were sideshows, ice cream, bagpipes and dancing.

Competitions and entertainment included ladies' and men's running races, hop step leap, heavyweight wrestling, putting the stone, tossing the caber, vaulting, bicycle racing, lightweight wrestling, running high leap, log sawing, log chopping, tilting the ring. (Ed note: Caledonian is a geographical term used to refer to places, species, or items in or from Scotland, or particularly the Scottish Highlands. It derives from Caledonia, the Roman name for the area of modern Scotland.)

 From the 1950s-60s?

This is a snug, friendly place with a nice little menu. "If you'd like to have dinner here we recommend booking," said our server. For a town of just 200 plus tourists, I was surprised.

There's a fine view from our table.

I picked up a new (to me) Val McDermid at the community book shelf and I ordered a fish chowder and chicken soup to go.

Flat whites were happily sipped.

And we walked back to the campground after a relaxing afternoon. Tonight it's perfectly clear outside, a cavernous black sky with generous moon and emerging stars overhanging our humble caravan. It's also dead quiet. Sleep well, campers.

To Kaka Point + The Animators

We pulled into Kaka Point this afternoon in a wash of rain. We tell ourselves what everyone else does: that's why NZ is so green.

Kaka Point is a popular seaside village with a permanent population of about 200 people which is boosted by holidaymakers during summertime.

I just finished this startling debut novel, by Kayla Rae Whitaker, and can highly recommend it. In the end, it's a story about an enduring friendship. (Thanks to librarian Brooke for selecting this one for me from the pre-pub pile way back in February.)

Kirkus Reviews says: Unexpected and nuanced and pulsing with life, Whitaker’s debut cuts straight to the heart of the creative process...Empathetic but never sentimental; a book that creeps up on you and then swallows you whole.