New Zealand Beach Walks

New Zealand Beach Walks Include:

Sea lions come up onto Surat Bay

• Visits to Catlins Highlights: Nugget Point, Surat Bay, Lake Wilkie, Purakanui Falls and Tautuku Bay
• Wildlife viewing opportunities
• Bush and beach walks
• Plenty of photostops
• Small, luxury, air-conditioned coach
• Friendly guide, with intimate regional knowledge
• Morning and afternoon refreshments
• Pick up and drop off at key Queenstown points and accommodation
• Binoculars provided

Rare yellow-eyed penguin

New Zealand beach walks & wilderness

On our New Zealand beach walks you will discover the best kept secrets of the untamed Catlins coastal wilderness.

Pounding surf and windswept beaches create a special microclimate for magnificent marine wildlife. Visit local historical sites, inland waterfalls and nearby lush rainforests. On our New Zealand beach walks you will discover the best of the Catlins on gentle bush and beach walks.

Sandy Tautuku Bay

Discovering the Catlins

Leaving State Highway 1 at Balclutha, travel south towards the Catlins coast through groomed farmland at the edge of the sprawling flood plains of the Clutha River.

New Zealand beach walks & Coastland

The Catlins Coast meets the sea in dramatic fashion. Sea cliffs rise an awesome 200 metres in places, their bases sometimes undercut by caves. Aeons of wave action and wind erosion have created just about every coastal landform imaginable. Coves, reefs and rock stacks add rugged decoration to the shoreline. Yet around the corner are picturesque bays with white sand, flanked by gentle estuaries leading to lush forest.

Historic lighthouse at Nugget Point

Highlights of our New Zealand beach walks:

Nugget Point (1hr + walk)

The area takes its name from the wave-eroded rock stacks, which resemble gold nuggets. Widely recognised by its historical lighthouse, the steep promontory is also a mecca for wildlife enthusiasts. It's home to one of the country's largest breeding colonies of New Zealand fur seals and the only place where the fur seals, Hooker sea lions and elephant seals co-exist. Colonies of yellow-eyed penguins and blue penguins cohabit with large bird colonies of Australian gannets, gulls, spotted shags and sooty shearwaters. Royal spoonbills now nest on one of the rocky islets. With the aid of the binoculars provided, the whole area comes alive.

Amongst the windshorn vegetation clinging to steep cliff faces are a number of hardy, salt-tolerant plants, including the Catlins coastal daisy.

Surat Bay/Cannibal Bay (45 mins walk)

Time again on our Catlins tour to stretch the legs, this time along the wind-swept, white sands of Surat Bay, a favourite haul-out place for sea lions. Emerald green, rolling hills overlook the bay which is also home to more common seabirds such as oystercatchers and blue herons.

Tautuku Bay

The iconic Tautuku Bay sweeps round to Tautuku Peninsula. The estuary was the site of an early whaling station in the 1840's.

Please contact us direct for further information about our New Zealand beach walks or for more information view our Catlins Tours page.