Moerkai Boulders and Shag Point, South Island NZ

Having a chat with Big Frankie

Kara snuck around quietly, not wanting to upset or scare the large grey mammal resting so lazily in the sun. 

You shouldn't stand between a fur seal and the sea but this big guy was so relaxed and so plonked out that he didn't seem at all bothered by us poking around in his personal space. We decided he'd suit the name Big Frankie. 

So we casually sat down alongside him on the grass and proceeded to tell his tiny little ears about our morning. He really wasn't that interested in the details but blinked at us patiently and so we plowed on.

Stunning Otago Coastline

"Big Frankie, we were actually in old Oamaru this morning, have you been there, up those ways? Well last night we went Penguin watching! They were so little and cute, bet you would have found them delicious. So anyway we left pretty early from our campsite after a plain breakfast of cold spaghetti, maybe you'd like that too... Probably not though. 

It was super cold last night and we didn't sleep well. Our van is pretty uncomfortable even without the cold seeping in. 

So on the road in no time we left Oamaru and made our way down the wave-cut Otago coastline. Our first stop just thirty minutes down the road was just outside Moeraki. 

Circular Moeraki Boulder in the Pacific

But, yeh, you've probably swum up and seen the Moeraki boulders before, haven't you Big Frankie? Well, I'll tell you what. We were right mighty peeved to find that you have to pay to enter the Koekohe beach access point. Sure, sure you've probably heard about places where everyone pays all the time to get that sand between your toes feeling, but in New Zealand!? No way- it's extortion. 

Well we weren't having any off that! Did you know what we did? We drove 200metres down the coast and walked over the dune. From there we just walked back up the beach and it was lovely! It was still a bit cold this morning, hahaha, well that's probably why you're lying here in the sun isn't it? 

Big Frankie wait! Wait! We haven't finished the story, don't go yet." Clearly bored of our ramblings, Big Frankie took the chance to sway over onto his big fat blubbery side and with immense effort wobbled off towards the water. 

Moeraki Boulders on the sand

Oh well we kept reminiscing as we watched him go. Yes, it was cold when we walked up the beach but everything was quiet and calm. The water softly lapped at the wet flat sand and our feet left footprints on the clean unmarked sand. 

In front of us lay the unusual spherical boulders, a bit smaller than we thought they would have been, but then again some of them were pretty large. Located between the town of Moeraki and Hampden the boulders are believed to have grown from a pile of mud over sixty million years ago. Bound together with a mineral cement they formed into a strangely even circle shape and with erosion have fallen from the cliffs above, scattering across the beach. 

Anyone up for bowling? 

Rocks on the beach

Climbing aboard 

Looks just like an ancient woven basket

Unusually we read on a signboard that local Maori believe that the boulders were the calcified remains of eel baskets, calabashes, and kumara that washed ashore from the wreck of the great canoe Arai-te-uru, that had made its way from Hawaiki. An interesting theory but what's more it's believed the men who managed to swim ashore fled inland and were transformed into the region's lush green mountains. 

Boulders in the water

We thought about this oddity as we got back in the van and began our drive down the small gravel road leading towards Shag Point. So we weren't surprised that Shag Point also named Matakaea in Maori and is the name of a pa site. 

The area was occupied for centuries, used and abused by early Moa hunters. But it was Kara's grandfather who recommended popping down the peninsula to check out the native wildlife. 

Im big and hungry and like singing! 

So this is how we found ourselves sitting on the damp grass chatting to local Big Frankie, well before he wobbled off. 

Shag point isn't a very touristy place and thankfully so! There was just one other van in the small car parking lot when we pulled up; a group of Germans who seemed far too young to be driving around by themselves. 

We went one way and they went the other so we had a large portion of the blue Pacific coastline to ourselves. Along the grassy cliff bank we were able to observe some of New Zealand's most beautiful fur seals. 

Yes I'm watching you!

Come play with me! We can swim!

Kara getting close and personal

Frolicking on the rocks

Big Frankie enjoying a doze

Below us, large rock platforms provide an easy haul-out site for the small seal families who jump out of the dark blue water effortlessly. They all looked so happy, chatting to each other in their indecipherable mammal language or just rolling about on the warm rocks. 

They had just gorgeous little cat-like faces with big black eyes and long white whiskers. Their flippers bent out underneath them and the smaller ones waddled along on them. 

We enjoyed watching them and then when we found Big Frankie he was our morning highlight. 

This is the life! 

After scampering over the rocks and counting as many seals as we could see we were back onboard our Austin-mobile and began our drive down state highway one into Dunedin.

Tot siens,

John and Kara