A bird's footprints lead to a coastal swamp beyond the dunes of Barn Bay, South Westland.
Sooty Shearwaters at Barn Bay.
A grey heron is dwarfed by rocks.
A section of the four wheel drive track.
Looking towards the coastal swamp at Barn Bay.
Potential tourist highway?
The Barn Bay track sometimes follows riverbeds, some dry, some wet.
Jen Rawson with mountain bikes in a very wide, very dry river bed.
The track follows the Hope River bed.
The track to Barn Bay, south of Haast, leads to a magical beach on the frontier of nowhere . . . and the route of a proposed highway. Photos by Marjorie Cook; prints available for purchase at otagoimages.co.nz.