Nokomai patterned mire, in the upper catchment, is part of a relatively unmodified wetland on several square kilometres of the southern Garvie Mountains.

[5] It is possibly the largest such area in Australasia and is dominated by grasses, sedges and mosses, with shallow pools, small islands and clumps of low vegetation.

The mire drains south via Dome Burn to the Waikaia and north via Roaring Lion Creek to the Nevis River.

[7] Highly regarded as a brown trout fishery the quality of the water in its lower reaches deteriorated in the early 21st century due to the conversion of much of the surrounding farmland to intensive dairy farming.

[12] Other mines, mostly also to the east of Waikaia, have worked gold derived from Cretaceous orogenic deposits in Mesozoic Otago Schist.