Comparing 1996 GPS data and data collected only one year earlier demonstrates that 50% of the instantaneous relative plate motion is accommodated between the west coast of the South Island and the eastern side of the Waiau Basin, a distance of about 75 km. The observed relative velocity vectors are nearly parallel to the inferred orientation of the plate boundary and rotated more than 30¿ clockwise compared to the relative plate motion vector, a difference that is significant at the 95% level of confidence. Modeling shows that the observed deformation rates are consistent with a model where nearly all the relative plate motion occurs on the plate boundary thrust as defined by the Benioff Zone associated with subduction on the Puysegur Trench. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union