Oct 28, 2009 – Moeraki Boulders in Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand – SIME / eStock Photo
Posted In: Boulders, Central, Central Otago, Island, Moeraki, New Zealand, Otago, South, South Island
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- Facial tattoos may be the ultimate taboo in the U.S., but they were once a sign of high rank here.
Check it out - Māori legend says these are ancient gourds washed ashore from the wreck of the first great canoe.
There are other theories, of course - No dinner party in this country is complete without everyone’s favorite dish…
The Chantilly cream is only the beginning - You’ll find these boulders along the stretch of coastline between Moeraki and Hampden.
Where’s that?
The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden, and are located at 45°20′42.99″S 170°49′33.82″E / 45.345275°S 170.8260611°E / -45.345275; 170.8260611. They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve. The erosion by wave action of mudstone, comprising local bedrock and landslides, frequently exposes embedded isolated boulders. These boulders are grey-colored septarian concretions, which have been exhumed from the mudstone enclosing them and concentrated on the beach by coastal erosion.
Local Māori legends explained the boulders as the remains of eel baskets, calabashes, and kumara washed ashore from the wreck of an Arai-te-uru, a large sailing canoe. This legend tells of the rocky shoals that extend seaward from Shag Point as being the petrified hull of this wreck and a nearby rocky promontory as being the body of the canoe’s captain. In 1848 W.B.D. Mantell sketched the beach and its boulders, more numerous than now. The picture is now in the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. The boulders were described in 1850 colonial reports and numerous popular articles since that time. In more recent times they have become a popular tourist attraction, often described and pictured in numerous web pages and tourist guides.
