Our second stop, on the day we drove through the Catlins, was at Curio Bay. The friends with whom we stayed the night before told us that we would be able to see a petrified forest if we got there at low tide, so we timed our day in order to reach there then. Mr. Imagination found this shrimp soon after we got down onto the rocks. We really enjoyed seeing rock pools again! The ones we used to explore in Kaikoura were destroyed in the earthquake, so we haven’t been able to explore them for a long time.
This bay really reminded us of the Kaikoura Peninsula. It had pretty much the same type of rocks, and rock pools everywhere.
We soon started finding petrified trees! Some were laying down, like this one.
Some seemed to have charred wood.
Some were stumps sticking up. 
There was even bull kelp, like in Kaikoura!
This natural bridge was fun!
Another horizontal log.
These swirls in the side of the cliff were fascinating.
Mr. Sweetie found this crab.
We were also fascinated with the layers in the cliff.
After exploring the rocks for awhile , we went back to the vans and had a picnic.
We passed this beautiful estuary right after we left Curio Bay.
What an amazing place! And full of beautiful rocks.