Curio Bay

See the 180-million-year-old fossil forest, an internationally significant Geological Site, recognised as one of the best examples of a Jurassic fossil forest in the world.

The petrified stumps, fallen trees and fern imprints date from the Jurrassic period. It is accessible at low tide and there is a viewing platform. "180 million years ago the Curio Bay area was a broad forested coastal floodplain. During this time, (known as the middle Jurassic period), New Zealand was part of the eastern margin of the ancient super-continent known as Gondwana. North of Curio Bay, most of future New Zealand was beneath the sea. The forest predominantly consisted of trees forming a low canopy over an undergrowth dominated by ferns."
Here and in the adjacent Porpoise Bay see Hector’s dolphins/papakanua and marine wildlife.