After leaving Dunedin we drove North to Christchurch. We decided that we would pay a visit to the Moeraki Boulders whilst we were en route.
The Moeraki Boulders have long been a curiosity and a source of legend. Thought to have been formed by the accumulation of lime salts on the sea bed. These boulders are perfectly spherical, some of them have a circumference of up to 4m. In Maori legend the boulders used to be the food baskets from the Araiteuru Canoe which was one of the great ancestral canoes which brought the Maori to NZ from Hawaiki their ancestral home. The canoe was wrecked on a greenstone gathering trip. It is said that the kumara on board became rough rocks, the food baskets became the boulders and the canoe became a reef.
Thousands of tourists turn up per year to see the Moeraki Boulders, they are probably amongst the most photographed of NZ's sights. Therefore Sparky and I turned up to take some piccies and have a look at the boulders. It would've been rude not to.
Here are a couple of pics of the Moeraki Boulders. As you can see, Sparky is suffering for his art in order to get some decent piccies. I can confirm that the sea was freezing, even by our hard northerner's standards.......
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