The Cathedral Caves are two connected limestone sea caves located on Waipati Beach, south of

Papatowai Papatowai is a small settlement in the Catlins ward of the Clutha District of the southeastern South Island of New Zealand. The settlement is situated half-way between the cities of Dunedin and Invercargill, on the Pacific coast close to the m ...

, on the Catlins Coast in the southeast corner of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. The two main cave systems join together within the cliff and one has a high ceiling. Often blue penguins and fur seals will emerge from the gloom at the far end of the cave. The 199m-long cave is formed in Jurassic sandstone (about 160 million years old) of the Murihiku Terrane, though the cave itself is much younger, ten to hundreds of thousands of years old. They were named by Thomas Hocken who noted how the caves reverberated noise and their resemblance to European cathedrals. The caves are only accessible for an hour either side of low tide. They are managed by Kāi Tahu descendants.

References

External links

Official website
- Information about the caves, including tide charts and pictures {{Tourism-stub Rock formations of Otago Coastline of New Zealand Caves of New Zealand Southern Scenic Route Sea caves The Catlins Tourist attractions in Otago Clutha District