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New Zealand

Clay Cliffs

Waitaki District

GPS -- 44°29'19.8"S 169°52'03.8"E

The Omarama Clay Cliffs

Directions

From Omarama you are going to want to head out along the Twizel-Omarama Rd (Highway 8)North-East toward Twizel. Swing a left onto Quailburn Rd, Then a fair way up take a left onto Henburn Rd, this is an unpaved road. A good distance down you will see the signs for the Clay Cliffs, Just before a gate to the left, there is an Honesty box that helps pay for the private dirt road that takes you to the Clay Cliffs from here. The cliffs are a rough drive in a car, but as long as it's not raining you should be able to make it down. Good Luck.

Helpful links

Stu Hardisty - 11th September 2016

Hoodoo, you do, we all do.

My wife and I had a weekend with out kids for the first time in around 2 years. In all the choices we had, we decided on the Omarama Hot Tubs and a trip to the clay cliffs. We headed out to the cliffs before the hot tubs to catch the sunset to get some serious glow, but alas, they faced the wrong direction and were stuck in the darkest of shadows.

The next morning we woke and headed on our way back to the cliffs. We missed the sun rise but had a blast finding all the nooks and cranny's around the pinnacles. About 2 hours in we decided to get some hoodoo shots, we spotted some half way up the side of the cliffs surrounded by matagouri. We thought about our options for a good half a second and started making our way through the ever relentless prickles.

We finally made it up to the hoodoo's and realized we were close to the top of the cliffs, why not take the extra 15 minutes and see what was there. At the top there was a farm track that led towards the cliffs and at some point went right beside them. Since the time someone built the track, the cliffs have given way and the road has some massive chunks out of it. That was enough for me not to get to close. Quite unstable looking. After a few last snaps we called it a day. 4 plus hours in this barren land was enough.

Am I bleeding? - Stu