Cliffs of Castlepoint

I’ve never seen anything like it…

“Those formations were once the ocean floor.” The guide says, matter-of-factly. He explains the geographical history: an island pulled back under the water and pushed up again with all the power of colliding tectonic plates.

New Zealand’s Milford Sound readjusted my eyesight. Even the most tranquil hills are now embued with the power of oceans, volcanoes, and tumultuous shifts.

Castlepoint is breathtaking. I wonder if this is volcanic creation, a tectonic thrust or if it was a reductive force, the work of erosion.

The water is a strange green, strange to my New England eyes anyway. The waves hint at other peaks and ledges just below the surface. I wonder if the subaquatic terrain will be pushed to the surface one day, remapped, remodelled and redefined with roads, homes and hiking trails.

Cliffs of Castlepoint integrates all of these ideas of continual motion and recreation of the environment. Orange references volcanic activity, and the whale tail is a Máori symbol of strength, wisdom and moving forward. Maps of cities and roads peek out in the hills that lay deep below.