Daily Photo – Sutton

Having marveled over New Zealand’s only submarine, I headed in a southeasterly direction toward Clarks Junction, a small rural crossroads settlement where State Highway 87 meets the Old Dunstan Road, a route goldminers once took from Dunedin over the Rock and Pillar Range to the Central Otago goldfields.

On the way out of Middlemarch, I passed a sign that said “Sutton Salt Lake.” I considered making a quick visit, but I knew it wouldn’t be quick, and I really didn’t have the time. Access to New Zealand’s only inland salt lake is via a 3.5-kilometre walking track through the wide-open spaces of the Strath Taieri. I had visited earlier in the year and had the whole track to myself. I spent a leisurely morning walking past schist towers that rose from golden tussock and dry shrub, scattered across a quiet plain. The sky stretched endlessly above as the ground crunched underfoot. It was a stunning day, the vast blue sky broken by a few rolling clouds over the Rock and Pillar Range in the distance.

The Sutton Salt Lake is a hidden treasure in the heart of New Zealand. A place of rare ecological importance and significance, it is the nation’s only inland salt lake, formed by rainfall, evaporation, and mineral-rich schist. Its fluctuating saltiness creates a fragile environment where only specialised plants survive, making it a living laboratory of adaptation. Surrounded by the stark Maniototo landscapes, it offers a striking glimpse of nature’s resilience and rarity in Central Otago.

I know a salt lake doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, it really is a special place. Exploring the lake and surrounding landscape is like finding a white peacock in the wild, seeing the Sea of Stars in the Maldives, or watching Aston Villa win on Boxing Day. It’s like experiencing the Boston Red Sox win the World Series, or Charlize Theron herself – a rare and beautiful thing.