Not a cloud in sight at Cloudy Bay
We started our Cloudy Bay walk in the car park at one end of the huge stretch of sand that makes up the beach. Unfortunately, many others did not bother with the parking and drove down the hard-packed sand – which made for the unusual situation where we were walking on a beautiful beach while dodging traffic.
At the far end of the beach we passed through the campground and headed off up into the hills, leaving the traffic and the sea-breeze behind. The walk up to the main ridge-line was undulating and quite tiring. Then, after crossing the ridge you walk parallel to it for some time, pushing through spiky plants (which made my decision to wear trousers and a long-sleeved shirt look like wisdom). It’s all entirely worthwhile for the view though.
The end of the track is a bluff looking out over the ocean. The visibility was amazing and the air, again, so clean and fresh. We had lunch sitting on the cliffs.
After squeezing back down the spiky track and traversing the undulations a swim in the cool ocean was most welcome – and one of the highlights of the trip.
And to finish the day, perfectly clear skies that night made for stunning star gazing.
