It is regrettable that beautiful landscapes such as Wharariki Beach become commodified as ‘Windows’ screensavers, leading to hordes of tourists firing flash photography at seal pups playing in the rock pools. A better experience of visiting such a surreal place, is being able to walk through a landscape comparable to the artwork of Salvador Dali. Wind-shorn, acid green mats of kānuka appear to be melting over the surface of 60 million year old quartz and feldspar sandstone.

The first part of the walk passes through sporadic patches of nīkau and ethereal pōhutukawa forest, amidst grazing sheep. We approach a small, rocky mound clothed in pōhutukawa jutting out into the sea. Almost an island and likely once was or will be, connected by a thin sand-spit to the mainland. As we approach, it becomes obvious that it has been terraced as a pā.

The interaction of prevailing winds, golden sand and sun, render a smooth undulating caramel-like surface across the landscape. These undulations over time, move in an easterly direction leaving crescent-shaped lakes and ephemeral wetlands in their wake. In one section pictured, the rare Eleocharis neozelandica (now only known from this location) registers as a thin mat of lime-green/brown in an ephemeral wetland. Eleocharis translated from latin is ‘charm of the swamp’ and the role it plays in the shifting pastel gradient from orange to green, certainly earns it the name.

Having made the journey in spring, we arrived too early in its phenology. However, the most spectacular part of viewing this shrub in the wild, is a soft hue change across a simple plant community of two species. In a basin at the foot of Castle Rock, a glossy, dark green sheet of flax (Phormium cookianum) rolls up to be punctuated by soft, glaucous clouds of Brachyglottis and contrastingly huge limestone boulders.