Crazy Christmas Day Hike

While everyone else was waking up on Christmas morning we headed off on a crazy adventure. We had noticed a tiny bay on a previous hike but had been unable to reach it at high tide. We tried approaching the bay from the top but it was surrounded by sheer, crumbling cliffs... so we figured that the only way to get there was at absolute low tide. We consulted the tide table and arrived just as the tide was at it's lowest. It looked hopeless. Even at low tide the bay looked unreachable. We somehow had to get down and around those cliffs in front of me:

Ian decided to climb down a bit and see if we could have a go at it. So the boys and I sat on the beautiful sandstone shelf for a few minutes.

Ian discovered that, with a bit of rock climbing, it was possible to get down to the base of the first cliff. We had to climb straight down from where we are sitting and then toe our way along a very narrow ledge. Look for the dark line halfway down the cliff and you will see our path. Luckily both boys are pretty confident rock scramblers:

There are no more pictures of the path we took because we had to use both hands to scramble along ridges and over huge fallen rocks. It was nuts but we made it!

The bay was amazing. Can you see the HUGE pieces of fallen cliff to my left. And all the smooth, beautiful rocks at our feet.

We did not stay long. We were afraid that the way we had come would become unpassable as soon as the tide turned and we did not want to be stranded for 12 hours on this tiny beach!

Here we are, victorious, back on the rock ledge:

We were back at our cabin before most people had even finished brekkie!