Today Sue picked me up and we went for a drive to various locations. I visited dad, we went to Morpeth, we ate some chicken and I even bought some new shoes. And then in the afternoon we drove to Moonee Beach and clambered along the coast on the rocks until we found this:
It’s a cave inlet about halfway between Moonee Beach and Catherine Hill Bay, and you can see in the above pic why it’s became a bit of a sensation recently despite being there for aeons: the pink rock!
The surf blasts in and out of this cave continuously, and at low tides (like when we were there) you can see the rocks that are usually underwater are a distinct pink colour. Hence this place being called the Pink Caves or Fairy Floss Caves or Cotton Candy Caves (obviously that last name was given by an American). The pink is the natural colour of the rock, exposed due to the force of the waves preventing bleaching or algae growth.
The cave itself is fairly deep, and the crashing sound of the waves echoing inside is thunderous. This is inaccessible at high tide and even at low tide when the swell is high this is apparently a dangerous place to visit.
There was something strangely disturbing and creepy about the cave, and how even in the middle of a sunny day the deepest points were moist and inky black. There are a few nearly circular rockpools inside the cave that are deep enough you cannot see the bottom; I dared not look too close. This is the sort of place a Lovecraftian horror would make it’s home.
We didn’t hesitate to enter the cave once we found it, but getting out was a bit nerve-wracking since the ‘path’ seemed narrower and wetter and more perilous. Visiting this place in the rain or evening or when the tide was higher would be a very bad idea!
Considering this has been here since before either of us was born it’s remarkable we’d not heard of it before. It was absolutely worth the visit and I’m very glad we went. Maybe we should follow up that lead Sue got on another sea cave a bit further down the coast…