Curio Bay

What a pleasure it is in the morning to draw back the curtain and see the bright-coloured globe of a hot-air balloon suspended in the calm morning sky. It is perfect ballooning weather and we have been seeing them most mornings lately.

Several years ago my husband and I made a road trip of the South Island. One of the highlights was visiting the southern region called The Caitlins, where we stopped off to visit the Petrified Forest at Curio Bay. This is one of only three such accessible fossilised forests in the world.

This petrified forest was believed to have been formed in the Jurassic period around 175 million years ago by a combination of volcanic activity and heavy rain, resulting in rivers of mud, ash and rock that flooded the surrounding forests.

During the floods trees were washed down into this Bay and within months turned to stone as the silica-rich ash in the water impregnated the wood. These lines in the rocks indicate the presence of tree fossils.

Petrified wood, as found here, is very rare. Entire logs and stumps were preserved so well because the silification occurred so quickly that decay did not have time to set in.

The waters of the South Pacific Ocean crash along this coastline with some force. I was lucky to capture this mammoth wave just before it crashed into the headland.