Moeraki

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The Moeraki Boulders

Our second road trip introduced us to one of our favorite places in New Zealand: MOERAKI ("moe-RACK-ee") As a matter of fact (as you'll see if you continue to check out this travelblog as I get slowly around to adding all our various trips here) is one of only two places we've visited twice: we loved it so much that we came back here for our Thanksgiving celebration. But this was our first trip south of Christchurch.

The maori named these boulders "Te Kaihinaki" (food baskets.) Their legend states that they were washed ashore from the wreck of a canoe whose occupants were seeking pounamu (a beautiful New Zealand jade known as greenstone.) The reef near Shag Point was the hull of the boat; the rock just beyond was the petrified navigator. Some of the boulders were hinaki (baskets), the more spherical ones were water gourds, and the ragged ones kumara (sweet potato) from the canoe. The survivors from the canoe, Nga Tamariki, Puktapu and Pakihiwi Tahi, were transformed at daybreak into the hills that overlook the beach upon which the boulders lie.


(As usual, I'll put most text into the captions.) Off to Moeraki!

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