Sometimes, in the odd light of winds and storm fronts, the south coast can look like strange and alien territory...
And even in the brighter light of calmer skies, the rock formations can appear stark and forbidding.
Beached seaweeds litter the gravelly beach - this kelp makes a graceful wave pattern, much gentler than the waves which washed it up...
But in death, this kelp and other seaweeds soften the harsh environment and provide sustenance for plants that live only a short distance further from the tide...
The pretty pink flowers and bright green leaves of Calystegia soldanella - known by many names, as it is found in the temperate regions of both Northern and Southern hemispheres, it is a scrambling perennial vine which lives on shorelines. The Maori name is pohue, a descriptive English name is the sand bindweed - but this is even less hospitable than sand...somehow this plant manages to find enough sustenance for survival, even thriving.
The seaweed, displaced from its marine home, has helped to create a new home for a very different plant on this apparently unwelcoming gravel shore.