Curio Bay

At low tide the rock platform at Curio Bay exposes one of the most complete fossil forests in the world: tree stumps still in growth position, fallen logs, and the grain of the wood visible in silicified detail, all around 180 million years old from the Jurassic, when this land was part of Gondwana and lay in a floodplain that was repeatedly buried by volcanic debris. Walking on it, you are walking through a forest floor rather than looking at a display. The same bay is a nesting site for hoiho, the yellow-eyed penguin, one of the rarest penguins in the world, which come ashore in the late afternoon and evening. The rules here matter: stay well back, do not stand between a bird and its nest, and if penguins are waiting offshore, retreat - they will not land while people are in the way, and a missed landing costs a chick a feed. Hector's dolphins surf in neighbouring Porpoise Bay.

What you actually see

• The fossil forest - Jurassic stumps and logs in the tide platform.
• Yellow-eyed penguins - coming ashore in the late afternoon.
• Hector's dolphins - in Porpoise Bay next door.
• The Gondwana story - explained at the visitor centre above the bay.

When to go

October to April; low tide for the fossils, late afternoon for the penguins - the two do not always coincide, so check both. The visitor centre has the day's times.

Honest expectations

Penguins will not come ashore if people are in their path; keeping back is the difference between seeing them and preventing them landing. The platform is slippery and sharp. It is exposed and often windy and cold.

Nearby

Slope Point and Waipapa Point are west; the Catlins waterfalls are north-east.