Wet stones

As previously mentioned, it was a rather wet start and it didn't look likely that there would be any helicopter flights up onto a glacier, so we set off for the coast. Unfortunately, the further we got from the mountains, the better they looked, but it was by then too late to turn back:

Stopped briefly by Lake Pukaki to enjoy the turquoise colour which comes from the suspended stone particles “rock-flour”, created by past glacial action:

Then another stop on top of an impressive hydro-electric dam with huge sheets of water cascading from one lake into the next:

And eventually we got to the coast and stopped to look for some boulders. We didn't find them at first, but the spray from the Pacific breakers made a nice backdrop:

We moved on and found a nice cafe/restaurant above the beach we were looking for, with a pleasant decking terrace overlooking the beach:

The boulders here at Moeraki are a great deal more impressive once you get close up:

They vary in size:

And are almost all spherical, frequently with crazed patterning so that they resemble giant footballs:

This one is in the process off being eroded out of the mudstone cliff:

After being battered by the sea for many years, they break up to reveal an intricate internal structure:

Although there are quite a few here, it appears to be just this one stretch of beach, about 100 metres in length, with these boulders, adjacent beaches with the same mudstone cliffs were devoid of the boulders:

These are a couple of the largest we saw at high tide, there may be more visible at a lower tide:

Then we had to leave the roaring Pacific surf to find our campsite for the night in Dunedin:

It was quite a challenging drive into and through Dunedin in the dark and rain, negotiating rush-hour traffic and some very steep hills, but with excellent navigation skills, Barbara got us here without any wrong turns. Now, if it would only stop raining.........

written by  Saros on May 5, 2009 from Moeraki, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
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