I just came back from a trip to New Zealand (a beautiful place). While I was on the west coast of the South Island, I collected some very interesting rock samples. These rock samples are Haast schist and look like metamorphisized layered shale. I have never seen a fine layered rock with so many curves and bends as this Haast schist. While I was in New Zealand, I purchased some pamphlets about New Zealand geology. According to these pamphlets, the west coast of the South Island was orginally part of the east coast continental shelf of Gondwana (never above sea level). The Haast schist was originally sediment from a Gondwanan river. Now I look at a map of Gondwana shortly before the breakup of Antartica from Australia. I observe that New Zealand was just east of the rift between Antartica and Australia that went through what eventually became the Bass Straits. I conclude from this that there was an enormous river that went down this ancient rift zone, transporting sediment to form the continental shelf that eventually became New Zealand's South Island.

Does this analysis and conclusion seem reasonable to you? If not, where did I go wrong?

Gary