Moeraki

After leaving Alexandra we ambled out towards the coast again, spending a night in Ranfurly along the way _ there is not much in Ranfurly. There was a good frost on the ground when we woke up but clear blue skies, so a good omen for Moeraki.

Moeraki is special because of the boulders, and we are seeing less of them every year which is a real shame. The boulders are said to be formed between 33 to 56 million years ago when shell fragments were rolled in a limestone mixture (which acted as a cement) with silt stone and mudstone. They were formed into a round shape and eventually spat out of the hillside as it eroded. Over time they become buried in sand, or broken apart.

Unfortunately the boulders are also on the tourist route and we had to share the beach with a group of tourists from Singapore and Malaysia. While these people are all very nice, they have no concept of sharing spaces – being polite is also totally lost on them. They individually posed on the rocks, adopting one pose after the other so they could be photographed, before the next one took their place and so on. It was difficult trying to get a photo without them in it. They all loved the dogs though.

The tide was half in so that also restricted the photos a bit – or maybe just gave a different perspective.

The next morning we set out early because the tide was out, and I mistakenly thought the tourists might not be there early – Big mistake. We faced the same battle as yesterday. This time Bruce tried to tell them to get out of the way – no result. Instead they shoved their phone into my hands so I could film them with our dogs!

When we finally got some photos we took the dogs off leash to explore the beach. We found several of these…

These are apparently the egg cases of Ghost Sharks, and they are known to wash up on Moeraki Beach.

Ghost Sharks were not discovered until 2002, and they are actually more of a ray than a shark. They do not have teeth, but have hard mouth plates for crushing us shellfish, and they do not have bones – only cartilage.

The egg cases house the young until they hatch and the cases then float away and are washed up on beaches.

It was lovely being able to walk on the beach again, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We remember Emma and Justin gifting us a dinner at the famous Fleur’s restaurant at Moeraki. That has now closed down and the building is for sale – the end of an era really.

We are off to Oamaru next as we journey slowly towards the ferry and home.