Curio Bay

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Coordinates: 46°39′44.44″S, 169°05′52.52″E

A petrified log at Curio Bay.
A petrified log at Curio Bay.

Located near the southern end of New Zealand's South Island, Curio Bay is best known as the site of a petrified forest some 180 million years old. It also hosts a yellow-eyed penguin colony, and is one of the major attractions in the Catlins.

The now petrified logs, from ancient conifers closely related to modern Kauri and Norfolk Pine, were buried by volcanic mud flows and gradually replaced by silica to produce the fossils now exposed by the sea.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Buckingham, R., and Hall-Jones, J. (1985). The Catlins. Invercargill: Department of Conservation. ISBN 0-477-05758-6.
  • Peat, N. (1998). The Catlins and the Southern Scenic Route. Dunedin: University of Otago Press. ISBN 1-877133-42-6.

[edit] Accommodation

Curio Bay Salthouse - [1]