005 Cape Foulwind

February 1, 2021

"A cape of foul winds" was what Captain James Cook named the rocky cape in 1770 (now known as Cape Foulwind) after his ship Endeavour was blown quite a distance from shore in atrocious weather. Yesterday, it was picture perfect under blue skies and brilliant sunshine as we took the path to the lighthouse and delighted in panoramic views of the Tasman Sea. I was particularly interested in the old granite quarries (called Siberia by the miners) because that's where my great grandfather had worked and had a serious accident. It would have been pretty challenging work, blasting and quarrying that stone, sending it by purpose-built railway back to Westport to construct the Harbour breakwater. Albert had set a charge, but it didn't ignite. When he went to see what had happened, it blew up, he was badly injured and extremely lucky to have lived to tell the tale.

We drove further south along the coast to Tauranga Bay to see if we could spot any seals or little blue penguins. We found the seals lolling about on the rocks and frolicking in the waves, but the penguins were nowhere to be seen. We also saw a few gannets and more cheeky weka, but most of all we enjoyed the walk.

We'd seen on a map that there was a free camping area on the Fox River at Tiromoana so we headed for there and found a beaut spot next to the Sunday Market place. By the time we went to bed, there were 18 vans parked up around us. Lots of sandflies - poor Mike!
Breakwater at Westport

Lighthouse at Cape Foulwind

The quarry where Albert worked

Can you spot the seals basking?

Tauranga Bay

Tenacity

The two of us


Comments

  1. Anita17 March 2021 at 01:48

    Poor Mike. I have yet to find anyone who has pet sandflies. Horrid they are. Seals, birds, greenery..and then that Tauranga Bay. Just gorgeous. 🚍happy campers.

    ReplyDelete

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