Photo: Ship Creek Driftwood South Island New Zealand

Large pieces of driftwood adorn the beach at Ship Creek along the Glacier Highway on the South Island of New Zealand.

The calm waters of Ship Creek adorn one side of the sandy beach where a river has formed making its way to the opposite side where the ocean waves crash against the coastline on the South Island of New Zealand. Resting on the sand, there are large pieces of driftwood that have made their way ashore, some which have been here for many years.Each piece of driftwood has its own unique shape, like this one where the roots of the tree were once buried underground. As it sits on the beach at Ship Creek, the sun has dried out the driftwood exposing the true shape of the wood.Looking down the beach, you can see that this is not the only piece of driftwood left along the beach at Ship Creek. Some are much smaller in size while others are quite large each carrying their own saga of how they eventually arrived on the South Island of New Zealand.Ship Creek beach is very isolated and is the ideal place to spend the afternoon building sandcastles while enjoying a picnic lunch. ... continue below the picture...

... There are few people that journey to this stunning place and you are more likely to run into a seal or sea lion before an onrush of people.Following the discovery of a foreign piece of ship that landed here in 1871, the area was named Ship Creek in honour of that. In the years to follow, more pieces of the ship occasionally washed up along the beach making Ship Creek live up to its name.A very tranquil place on the South Island of New Zealand where the scenery is magnificent and one never knows what kind of exciting things may show up here. Peace and quiet is what you will find at Ship Creek and this is just what people are looking for when on a vacation to the South Island of New Zealand.
Driftwood scattered on the beach at Ship Creek along Highway 6, the Glacier Highway, Westland, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand.