#austrevylaeus

One of the many, many, MANY species of sweat bee in the genus Lasioglossum. More common in New Zealand than in Australia.

Heading south, en route to Wellington and hence the South Island. We stopped and stayed at a few places on the way, including Cape Egmont to see the lighthouse and beach, and Ōpunake because I wanted a look at the bay, cliffs, and beach.

Quite a lot of the area we were driving through was covered in small conical hills - that's because it's all volcanic landslide debris from Taranaki, 20km away.

The cliffs at Ōpunake and the rocky beaches along the rest of the coastline are more evidence of the violent geology.

The boulders in the layers still in the cliff are fridge sized.

Most of the land had been cleared of native vegetation for agriculture, but there were still a few local species around. And extensive burrows by Tiger Beetle larvae in the sand and volcanic ash deposits. Here's a few I've already covered elsewhere.