Friday 22 June 2012

Day 10 - Friday 15th June - Moeraki boulders to Dunedin

We got up early this morning so we could go to the beach whilst it was still fairly low tide to see the Moeraki boulders. They are unique, never seen anything quite like them before. They're huge (2-3m in diameter) perfectly spherical rocks, half buried in the beach sands.

Early morning beach from near our campsite
The Moeraki Boulders

Ruth with a boulder...now can you see how big they really are?

2 Oyster Catchers with the Moeraki Boulders in the background

More are emerging from the cliff face as erosion happens. The ones which have been partially eroded on the surface reveal veins of another rock type making them look like tortoise shells and others have broken up along these veins.

The veins of different rock types inside the boulder

A broken boulder
The Moeraki Boulders feature in Disney's version of Voyage of the Dawntreader (Chronicles of Narnia).

Whilst in Moeraki we visited the lighthouse wildlife viewing point where we saw a lonely penguin and a few seals staying safely away from the fiercely breaking waves.

Lonely, cold looking penguin

Seal on the coast edge
After this it started raining and carried on most of the day so we headed south to a town called Dunedin (dun-ee-den) where the Scots landed. 

En route to Dunedin


A huge rainbow we saw coming into Dunedin

Apparently Dunedin comes from it's original name little Edinburgh. We visited some art galleries, the shops, cafes and the information site here before finding a campsite for the night. We shall probably stay here a few nights before heading further south.

Dunedin Railway Station

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