Moeraki Boulders and Seals Galore

Sunday 1 March

Time to say goodbye 🎶

Farewell Tomkinsons - they snuck out early so Jez could compete in a 10km run from Cave to Timaru, and we followed suit a couple of hours later, but headed South rather than North. Our destination was Otago Fresh Milk on the outskirts of Palmerston where we parked up amongst the cows, sheep and other farmyard animals.

Shortly after settling in, Abby F arrived from Dunedin and we piled into RUSSF and headed back up the coast a wee way to visit the Moeraki Boulders.

These incredible, almost spherical boulders are birthed out of the muddy clay cliffs, many have been partially subsumed by the sand of the beach over time, one or two others stand proud like a giant rock marble. Fascinating rock formations - the closer one to the camera in the pics above has crumbled a bit, revealing a hollow centre and crystalline coating along the cracks in the hard calcite rock - echoed in the 4 part montage of the broken rock.

Had a lovely time exploring this fascinating, protected environment and all the fabulous sealife washed up along the shore - seaweeds, shells, rocks and driftwood. Nickie was very taken with the varieties and colours of the seaweeds (one almost matched by bright pink scarf) and I became obsessed with the twisty, foldy, ruffly seaweed that resembled funfair potatoes on a stick!

Abby took us a lovely group selfie on a driftwood log (reminiscent of a Fernandi picture about a decade ago on the beach at Hahei in the Coromandel) and we all marvelled at the folly of youth as she clambered up another log up against the cliff - we’d have loved to try climbing too but we didn’t want to risk a fall at our age 😳😆

Afternoon tea at the cafe then we drove over to Katiki Point to check out the lighthouse and the seal colony. Katiki Point was the site of a famous Māori battle in the mid 18th century when several pā (fortified settlements) were built on the peninsula. Today the only residents are kekeno or fur seals - the Te Reo name literally translates as "the look arounds", acknowledging the way seals swivel their heads and look all around them as they bask on the rocks.

The seals were wonderful - fabulous indolent creatures lying about all over the beaches & rocks below us, but also scattered across the grassy headland all around us. Had to yell at a couple of tourists who were walking right up close to them for that perfect holiday photo… except the rules are to leave 10m distance wherever possible 🙄

One seal posed perfectly for me behind a lifesaver ring - just brilliant! And another wee fella woke up, had a scratch then scooted along to the rocks, checked we were watching then slipped into the sea for a joyful roll and a swim 🩶. It was interesting watching the seals slumbering on the beach and rocks often chose to lie on mattresses of kelp - was it warmer or just more comfortable?

As we looked south we could see the rain advancing up the coast from Dunedin so we scarpered to the car just before a huge downpour and a hailstorm hit us! Bonkers on the first official day of Autumn.

We drove through the storm and on out to Shag Point (mainly for the comedy innuendo value) and were rewarded by stunning views and even more seals to watch 🦭 By now the sun was shining on us all, there were swathes of blue skies between the clouds and we had some epic views in golden autumnal light. There were so many seals living there the sign suggested that it was a "seal suburb" which seemed appropriate as along one side of the bay, they were stacked up like cars in a multi-storey car park as the rock terraces rose above the water.

We all watched with bated breath as one very large, heavy fella backed onto a ledge and basked… we were concerned he may fall off the end or the rock might crumble under him!!! In the background behind him you can see mini Moeraki Boulders formed in the rocks. The bizarre rock formations were really eye catching - a golden layer of crinkled rock ran all across the bay from the cliffs, through this rock bed and through more rocks along the bay. I loved how the shape was echoed in the seaweed ribbons below.

Back at the POP we said hello to some of the farm animals, watched the cows returning from milking and marvelled at the rainbows popping up around us. Aria gave me a big moo cow smile 🩶

Flat chook for dinner in the FernandiVan then hours of Rat-a-tat-cat where we were mostly bested by the very experienced Fernandi clan! Time to get our own back and teach them the joys of 💩head!!