MARLBOROUGH: SOUTH

Ward Beach is a quiet location where overnight parking has been made available by Herb and Pip Thompson, the local land owners. 

There is a public beach access parking area, with a rather basic toilet. The Chancet Park overnight parking area was set up for members of the NZ Motor Caravanners Association, but it is also available to anyone with a self-contained van. It has obviously been well used, as there is an interesting collection of message stones at the entrance.

We've been told that the walk down the beach has some interesting geological formations, but didn't have time to check these out as we were meeting up with some friends at Okiwi Bay later that morning.

UPDATE: 9-April-2021

We returned to Ward beach with two of our good motorhome friends and took the opportunity to explore the north end of the beach together. 

The Ward Beach Boulders sign said that it would only take 8 minutes, but it was slow walking over the soff gravel beach, and it took us around 30 minutes to get to the boulders, and then another hour to get to the Chancet rock formations. It was good exercise, and proved to be well worth it!

The Ward Boulders were exposed during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, which raised the seabed by over 2.5 meters. Similar to the Moeraki Boulders south of Oamaru, they are made from dolomite and were formed in marine sediments on the ocean floor over 65 million years ago.

Continuing on up the beach, past small colonies of fur seals, we came to the Chancet Rocks, which are thought to have been formed during the mass extinction of the dinosaurs when a large asteroid smashed into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

The pink coloring of the Chancet Rocks comes from a high concentration of iridium, which was spread around the world when the asteroid struck. It's called the K-PG boundary, and these rocks are amoung the best on-land evidence of this in the Southern Hemisphere.

As if this wasn't enough, there were large fossils enbedded in some of the rocky outcrop that were formed by animals that are currently unknown.

For you amateur geologists out there, you can read more about this in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Beach

We had a stunning afternoon, arriving back at our motorhomes in time for a rest before having dinner together.

Please note that these areas of Ward beach are designated as scientific reserves, and are legally protected as Crown property. Explore and enjoy - but don't try taking samples or leaving any rubbish behind!

Ward Beacj is a stunning geological treasure, and Chancet Park is the perfect place to stay and explore this area. Please treat it with the respect that it deserves!

Ward Beach looking south as it was before the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake

Wild rocky foreshore near the northern end of Ward Beach

One of our good motorhome friends accompanied by 3 of the Ward Beach boulders

Rocky coastline near the northern end of Ward Beach

Limestone and fossil rocks in the distance

Pink rock formations at the northern end of Ward Beach

Stunning rock landscape

Shuping dwarfed by the rocky skyline

Rocks filled with fossils

Olga taking pictures makes for its own picture