Amazing geology and stunning scenery

Everyone we met who'd been to the west coast of South Island told us how beautiful it was so it was fantastic to be able to see it for ourselves in almost perfect weather conditions.

Up at the north end of the coast, just near the little town of Kamarea, is an old logging road that leads up into the forest. Whilst the removal of huge native hardwoods form the 1940's until 1986 is now regarded as a huge ecological mistake, the road has allowed people to access some incredible geological wonders, the Oparara Arches. 

A narrow seam of limestone, sandwiched between granite, has been eroded into some huge arches - the biggest 60m high and 220m long.

Further south on the coast road we stopped at Punakaiki to see the famous 'Pancake Rocks' - again limestone but these have a curious layered formation:

Further south we followed the Haast River inland and camped at the aptly-named Pleasant Flat, with an imposing view of Mount Hooker above us:

Bridge-bending by wide-angle lens

After a pit-stop back in a brilliant commercial campsite in Wanaka (an opportunity to do laundry and to catch up on admin and blog) we'll be heading south whilst the weather holds for the next 3 or 4 days. We'll visit the Catlins National Park and then the city of Dunedin before heading north to catch the ferry on the 21st.