Jack's Blow Hole in The Catlins

Just a quick comment on our previous post about the giant weka, which is being protected. In fact there are no human predators in NZ (unless other humans count). No snakes or bears. No spiders or killer insects. So the giant weka is about as scary as it gets, and all this makes hiking extremely relaxing.

By the way, on our drive today we passed an insect theme park that's closed but I would have been all over this side trip.

We drove 20 minutes from our campground to the Tunnel Rocks Scenic Reserve to see Jack's Blow Hole. The view of the bay was worth it alone...even in currently cloudy conditions.

Jack's Blowhole is named after the famed Ngāi Tahu Maori chief, Tuhawaiki, known to early European settlers as Bloody Jack - apparently he was fond of using the expletive.

Oh what a gorgeous little beach, though the sea lions weren't out when we stopped in.

Lots of sea lion education, however.

 

We started up the farm-field path, animals safely corralled by wire fencing. T'was a good uphill challenge. I paused to look back.

Ready to climb over the stile that keeps any loose cattle in their own space.

 Up and over and oh, what a view.

Spoiler alert: we never did see the actual blow hole because the path was rife with greasy, loose mud. But here we're making an attempt. Also, since the tide wasn't in, the blow hole show wouldn't have been on, since it requires a high tide to rush into a subterranean cavern and explode out the top.

The drive to the blow hole, much of it on gravel, was itself pleasing.

 

Art on Jack's Bay

A most happy adventure.