We had the opportunity to visit Omarama Clay Cliffs, a special geological spot, in 2018 when driving from Lake Pukaki to Wanaka on our road trip around the South Island of New Zealand. This place was not in our original plan, but when I saw a photo of my friend sharing about this place, I was very curious and immediately searched for it on the internet. This is a less popular place and is not noticed by many people. However, for me this place has a rather special landscape and is unlike any other I have ever visited in New Zealand. And fortunately, it was not far from where we were at the time and we decided to take the turn onto Quailburn Road from SH8 and drive straight to the Clay Cliffs.
After 20 minutes driving along the signposts to Clay Cliffs, the dusty gravel road made us feel like we were lost, we didn't see any other cars passing here, but we still put aside our doubts and decided to continue on that path. And we ended up at a gate where there was a donation box that each person visiting Clay Cliffs could put $5 in and then open the gate themselves. After another 3 minutes of driving, we reached the parking ground of Clay Cliffs.
And we could say that we had made the right decision to visit this place. The scene of tall pinnacles in earth color standing upright against the deep blue sky looks so wild and majestic. I was known that these pinnacles are formed from many layers of gravel and silt that were deposited in glaciers river more than 1 million years ago. Through the erosion of rain and wind, these pinnacles now reveal beautiful veins and distinctive-looking structures of soft rock. Following the path from the car park up to the Clay Cliffs, passing through wild rose bushes growing on roadsides, we approached the Clay Cliffs and had a closer look to the pinnacles, I was so overwhelmed by how wonderful nature can be. In addition, looking out from Clay Cliffs, you can see the landscape spread across a beautiful Mackenzie Basin.
We did not have much time to stay at Clay Cliffs, but the scenery and the experiece to this place were unforgetable. And for sure I might come back there one day.
Thank you so much for reading!