The Boulders on the Beach

With another beautiful morning ahead of us, we decided to drive back into Oamaru’s Victorian precinct to check out all the shops that were closed the day before. We parked the car is almost the exact same spot and began our stroll. Though we decked into everyone that was open, we didn’t find anything that was that spectacular or that steampunk. The one shop that I had wanted to visit was Tiger Lily because from what we could see in the windows, it looked like it carried a great deal of Victorian inspired garb. But alas, it was closed and we decided that it was time to make our way down to Dunedin.



The road down to Dunedin gently followed the Otago coastline with lovely views of the water eery now and then. We decided to take a detour from our drive to see something called the Moeraki Boulders. We had no idea what to expect, but what the heck, detours are fun. It turns out that this was one spectacular detour with some incredibly unique rock formations. However, before we saw the rocks, there were two very cute, tame deer waiting to be feed by visitors at the edge of the parking lot. Keep in mind that all deer here are livestock so it would be no different than two sheep or cows waiting around. It was a great opportunity to feel just how soft deer fur can be behind the ears and under the chins.

However, we should really move onto these fantastic rocks. A little ways down the beach from the path are several almost perfectly spherical boulders just sitting in the sand and the surf. It’s so strange because it looks like they’re man-made but they aren’t! They’re mudstones that through a process of crystallization and calcification have turned a little stone unto a huge boulder. I guess you could compare it to what oysters do to a grain of sand to make a pearl. What’s even more fascinating to me is that all these boulders are just waiting in the beachside cliff. As it erodes, they roll down onto the strand. They’re beautiful and amazing. Also, apparently pretty fragile because there were several that had cracks and others that were just in pieces to show great examples of the calcification within.

After we had our fill of strolling on the beach, picking through shells, crumbling rocks (likely smaller forms of mudstones) and beach agate, we had a wonderful lunch at the Moeraki Boulders café. The weather was so perfect that we ate outside on the veranda, overlooking the bright blue waters of Koekohe Beach. Then it was time to leave this slice of perfection and get back to heading south.We made only one more detour looking for some seacliffs that ended up being a town called Seacliff instead of seaside cliffs, but it was still an interesting drive with lots of cute cows.

We made it into Dunedin around 3:30 and by chance ended up parking right in front of the Otago museum while we tried to get our bearings from our books. So, we popped some coins into the parking meters and went in to have a look. Turned out to be another wonderful whim because we both agreed that this was one of the best museums we’d seen in a long time. The collections were extensive and extremely well presented. It’s a kind of place that you could get lost in for several hours. My personal favourite was learning about all the different kind of moas that used to roam the Aotearoan landscapes. We saw as much as we could before it closed and then it was time to set up some lodging at the Garden Motel. We decided to walk back into the town centre of Dunedin to find something for dinner and ended up settling your usual pub fare with cider and beer.