Moeraki Boulders Oamaru

So far, no car crashes! We picked up our trusty rental car (which has over 100k miles on it and a tape deck), and headed down the East coast towards Dunedin. Since we had some time, we decided to make some stops along the way. Our first plan was to stop in Oamaru to visit with the blue penguins; the smallest penguins in the world. However, we …

Von Oamaru fuehrt die Strasse weiter nach Dunedin. Wir machen an den Moeraki Boulders halt. Hier liegen am Strand ein paar groessere Steine rum, die zu einer Touristenattraktion verkommen sind. Man will sogar Eintritt zum Strand. Ich fand die Boulders jetzt nicht unbedingt ein muss, aber die Touristen scheinen da in Scharen zu kommen. Es gibt ein …

We drove about 4 hours to the Otago Peninsula on very windy roads but through good weather. We stopped in Oamaru for lunch at a lonely planet suggestion, Roost where I had a great salmon spaghetti. Down the coast was a real highlight of the trip, the Moeraki Boulders. These are spherical boulders on the beach, just on the tide line. There are …

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by James and then made good use of the free wireless internet for a couple of hours before getting on our way.

We drove back down to the harbour where we had seen the blue penguins and then had a look round the Victorian area of Oamoru and saw many historic limestone buildings and lots of British …

On the way into Oamaru there was an unusual sign advertising round boulders - naturally we parked and went to review this new wonder.

The Moeraki Boulders were an unexpected find and were really quite strange. They seem at odds with nature as they are so incredibly round - see pics it'll make more sense of my rambling!

Oamaru next …

On this 4^th of January we start again later (what means 10:00 a.m.) and make a short drive to the south of the Otago Peninsula. We drive up a steep road leading to Larnach Castle. This is the only castle in New Zealand. It was built at the end of the 19^th century, has been demolished, but restored and refurbished from the …

The Boulders war das Ziel am Vormittag. Von Moreaki aus wanderten wir dem Strand entlang bis zu den Steinkugeln im Sand. Die Küste spukt hier über Jahrmilionen alte gepresste Steinkugeln aus, welche am Strand rumliegen und verwittern oder gar zerspringen.
Das Mittagessen wollten wir im bekannten Fleur's in Moreaki einnehmen, doch das Restaurant …

We drove up the coast road through steady drizzle, to the Moeraki boulders. These are spherical rock formations, which developed under the sea and have been revealed as the sandstone they were embedded in has eroded. They were an intriguing sight, and ...

... coast as far as Kakanui then turning inland to join Highway 1. At Hampden beach we walked among the strangely round Moeraki boulders before continuing south through Palmerston and rainy Dunedin to our next destination, the Otago Peninsula. The Otago ...

Alex: We left a beautiful sunny Te Anau heading for Dunedin, the Moeraki Boulders and finally Oamaru. We arrived in Dunedin (Edinburgh of the South apparently) hoping to find a nice spot to sit and eat our lunch, but the rain had other ideas so we ate in ...

... planned on spending the night here but the rooms are full and the cottage is $280 a night!!!   So we head for Moeraki Boulders where we wonder along the beach gazing in amazement at these perfectly round balls of earth or maybe they once belonged ...

... to the Yellow Eyed Penguin colony, but it was too dark to see them. They come ashore mid afternoon and nest on the beach, but you are not allowed on the beach after 3pm. We then headed to the Moeraki Boulders and camped overnight in the car ...

Camped in the car park for Moeraki Boulders overnight but didn't get too much sleep as was first night in campervan. Today was the Queen's Birthday which is a public holiday in New Zealand. Don't know why we in the UK don't get a holiday for it, but ...

... a tough enough time just keeping track of the time of day and day of the week! So, of course, we arrived at the Moeraki Boulders at high tide. First we had to walk through an establishment of sorts consisting of a restaurant, curio shop and donation box ...

Entry containing 15 photos titled: Superman at the Moeraki Boulders!, Us on some of the Moeraki Boulders, Pushing a boulder!, The Moeraki Boulders, Dave hatching from a boulder!, Huge deer!, New Zealand Fur Seal at Shag Point, New Zealand Fur Seals at Shag Point, Sea birds at Shag Point

... Dunedin.  A large port town that surpasses Christchurch in nearly every way.  We stopped along the way to see the Moeraki Boulders sitting in the surf about halfway to Dunedin.    These are spherical sones 4-5 feet in diameter that ...

We were told that the Yellow Eyed Penguins (the rarest New Zealand penguin) could be found at a little place just passed the Moeraki boulders, at the turn off to a lighthouse. We stopped off to have a look at the boulders which were a nice sight (and ...