Buried in Sand

The powerful West Coast winds which were absent on our visit, drive a wild process of sand movement here. This is exacerbated by an opening in the surrounding Mt. Lunar limestone formation. A handsome uplift of stone now cloaked in windswept Metrosideros perforata and coastal flax. Wind-borne sand is pushed upwards of 100m through this gap, creating large steep sided dunes. This process has filled up small valleys and blocked their drainage, resulting firstly in swamps and now a pair of freshwater lakes behind the dune accumulation. The shallow lakes are fed by ephemeral rainfall sources and are densely vegetated by a thick rim of Nikau palm. 

The conversion of the bordering landscape to farmland has left some interesting anomalies of flora in its wake. The farming of marginal sand-country in New Zealand needs greater scrutiny, in many places it is unprofitable for the farmer as well as damaging to the land. If pasture ever managed to fully stabilise the dunes it would have been after the removal of forest and with the introduction of yellow lupin (Lupinus luteus). Recently an Australian fungus swept through decimating the sand-binding lupins, consequently leaving fence posts dangling in the air. 

Scouring and deposition has buried areas which were once forest, now skeletal branches poke their arms from a sandy grave. While the trees did not survive, some of the lianes which once adorned their crowns are holding on in the sand. Rubus australis, a relative of the blackberry, still clings to branches where it once climbed with barbed hooks in search of light. Parsonsia heterophylla (native jasmine) has also found support in the dune, wending its way through Muehlenbeckia complexa. Further toward the coast an iconic patch of Nikau is trialling a recent beige forest floor. Nikau is not a dune-loving species, preferring moister soils. Its survival here is likely a test of time, but for now the scene remains a idyllic Pacific postcard.