Monday, June 25, 2007

Meggie and Shirley Will Know.




Some are under the water. Some are under the sand. Some are in the banks. Some are nicely exposed. They are the Moeraki Boulders , on the East Coast of the South Island at Moeraki which is south of Oamaru.
If you read Meggie's Blog you will have seen photos of her with her children years ago sitting on the same rocks. Shirley lives quite near them.
They are granite and are I suppose harder than their surroundings hence there durability. We had to wait for most of the other folk visiting to drift away so we could get some shots of the rocks naked and in the raw. One shot shows a rock cracking and starting to disintergrate. That's me ( for a change I handed over the camera ) with the red shoe on a rock.

















8 comments:

Diana said...

Ali, I'm just getting caught up on blog reading and so got to see all your recent posts at once! What beautiful country you have seen. I still can't get over going down that long tunnel on a bus. Thank you for sharing your vacation pictures.

Unknown said...

Glad you put the picture in with you in it to give a size comparison - not knowing anything about them when I first looked at the pictures I presumed they were about the size of a large beack ball - once I realised their size - very impressive - I've really enjoyed a virtual holiday with you Ali - keep the pics coming if you have more please :o)

Shirley Goodwin said...

The Moeraki Boulders are concretions formed around 65 million years ago. They're now exposed as the soft mudstone around them is eroded away. Apparently, they're unique in the world (or so I've read).

meggie said...

When we first saw them, I could only marvel at them, & the age they must be.
Somehow the explanations for their creation didnt seem quite right. Why are they unique in the world? And why are they so round?
Thanks for sharing them again. It is many years since I saw them.

Suzi-k said...

FASCINATING! they look like something a special effects team would make for a sci-fi movie! And yes, anne is right, i also thought they were smaller, it was good to get an idea of the size with you stomping on one!

Digitalgran said...

These are wonderful things Ali. what exactly are they? I will have to Google them to find out and I saw Shirley through the corner of my eye and checked to see what she said and of course she must have heard me and answered my question. Really wonderful.

Rose Marie said...

When I first saw the boulders, I thought they were turtles. Thanks for sharing the photos!

Deb Hardman said...

They look like giant scoops from an ice cream scooper.