gemfyre | Respect the sea, because she's never gonna respect you.

I love the coast down south. I could sit on those rocks for hours and watch the waves of the Antarctic ocean crash against the rocks or listen to the swell boom through the granite fissures of the blowholes like some raging monster.

The place is simply ageless. Massive mounds of granite formed beneath the earth, pushed up over millenia and becoming cracked by the forces and weathered by the wind and waves in the process. Gniess bands and basalt dykes and sills create patterns in the grey rocks and in some areas limestone sits atop the granite, a reminder that this area was under the ocean also.

The gap is a gaping maw in the granite, over the years the rock has lifted and cracked into blocks in the process. Battered by the waves these chunks have fallen away to create the chasm. Waves crash into it and up the sides.

Some people abseil down the sides. Even though I like thrills to me that is just suicidal. People just observing the waves have been washed away by a freak king wave, never to be seen again. The sea takes many victims in this area. If you were able to escape the rips and waves sucking you under and battering you against the rocks you'd have to take your chances in a freezing ocean that is home to great white sharks.

One day the gap will widen and disappear.

The natural bridge sits just across from the gap. Again large blocks of granite have fallen away to create an arch over a raging sea.

It's ill-advised these days, but the occasional person still ventures out onto the actual bridge. Again, king waves take some. Eventually, but probably not in my lifetime, the bridge will collapse. Nature is constantly changing. She doesn't care about the actions of humans.

The blowholes are a long steep walk but well worth the trouble. A little down the path you can look back on Bald Head to see if the swell is up. If it is the holes will be blowing.

It's like a roll of thunder when the waves are pushed under the rocks, then all of a sudden there's a loud hissing and water sprays from the rock fissure, as if you're sitting upon one of the great grey whales that frequents the surrounding waters. After a while if you watch the waves and the swell you can guess when the hole will blow.

This countryside just reminds me that nature doesn't give a shit about us puny humans. She is ageless and at any time she could just smite us. It reassures and calms me to think of that. No matter what we do, nature will keep on her way. Everything on Earth may die, but Mother Nature will still be here. The only constant is change.