And so we reach the last post from our trip to New Zealand. The Omarama Clay Cliffs were the completely unexpected result of some late afternoon googling after we’d got back from our hike in Mount Cook. With the weather looking unpredictable we wanted somewhere to scamper out to if there was a window of sunshine, and it seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I’m now of the opinion that they’re definitely worth making a detour to – I’ve never seen anything like them.
I’ll have to admit that I don’t know much about how the cliffs were formed- something involving fault lines and uplift and erosion, but geology was never really my strongpoint. The point is that the ochre and egg-shell blue mass of peaks emerge out of nowhere, and that watching the natural light pick out the different colours is *chef’s kiss*. I thought that badlands (a term which describes these steep, conical formations) were something that you could only find in the US- but here we were, 7000 miles away, among canyons that wouldn’t have looked out of place in South Dakota.
The main event is at the end of the path, which takes you through a narrow gully and out into a spectacular natural amphitheatre. It’s a completely different feeling to that which you’d normally associate with mountains of any sort- the surroundings feel crumbly and fragile rather than sturdy and timeless, but this only adds to the brilliant oddness of the place.
The cliffs are on private land, so there’s very little infrastructure, and I’d definitely say to keep your wits about you as there’s some rather concerning looking overhangs and the rock is really soft. You reach them after a long stretch on unsurfaced road, put $5 in the honesty box, and they’re all yours to explore for as long as you like. When we went it was really quiet and we basically didn’t run into anyone else, but I did see that there was an entrance fee for buses- so maybe if you want to feel like you’re the only people there, get there early.
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At that’s it from New Zealand! I look at these pictures from February and the mind boggles at how much the world has changed since I took them. COVID was obviously a worry at the time, but when we got on a plane to head out there there were no travel advisories outside of China. Now the Foreign Office is advising against all but essential international travel everywhere, which would have been unfathomable to me just a few months ago. I guess at the time we were terribly naive. Still- whilst I don’t know when we’ll next be able to go back, I do know that I wouldn’t have changed a second of our trip.
Things will be more local on Stripy Tapir for quite a while, an announcement which I think will surprise no one. But stay with me – the Norfolk Broads are a beautiful place, and ever since we’ve actually been allowed to sit down outside of our flat my camera’s been by my side. Speak soon, and, as ever, thanks for reading.
