KAKA POINT, NEW ZEALAND

We've decided to spend a couple of days checking out the Catlins, one of the lesser-traveled areas of New Zealand on the southern coast of the South Island. We arrived in the area yesterday afternoon, and got up early this morning to visit the Cathedral Caves, which are huge cliffside caverns only accessible from the beach at low tide. They were pretty impressive, and we arrived just as the tide was washing into them, which added a little danger to our visit. We then took some more walking trails: to a local waterfall called McLean Falls, and to a very dark abandoned railway tunnel called Tunnel Hill. Later in the afternoon, we went to the beach at Cannibal Bay, where we saw several gigantic (I mean big) sea lions laying on the beach. We were able to walk right up to them--although we had to be careful to not get too close, as they would rear up and threaten to charge. (I'll bet I could outrun one on land, but I didn't want to risk it.)