7/20 Another beautiful day, cool and sunny. Had the truck serviced and in the afternoon took another trip down to the South Shore, this time to The Ovens.
Here the rocky cliffs drop vertically into the sea and the water has carved a dozen or so large caves at water level; why they call these caves "ovens" we never did discover. A pathway with appropriately placed wooden railings winds along the top of the cliff and occasionally there are stairs leading to a cave, each one different, of course. One is called the "cannons" cave because of the sound of the waves crashing against the unseen back wall. A few of the stairways lead inside of the cave and offer a spectacular view of the waves comin’ at ya! This area supported over 1000 miners during the 1861 gold rush and you can pan for gold on the rocky beach.
There is a campground on the edge of the cliff presenting a marvelous sight to campers. We’ll camp here next time.
Martha checks out the campground
from the walkway above the ovens.
There are some stairways to walk down
from the walkway to look onto the caves.
A tour boat entering a cave
Here's a cave with access to the inside
Here's what a cave dweller would see.
That's a tour boat in the distance.