NZ Holiday - Kaka Point to Moeraki Boulders via Dunedin

Up the Otago Coast - 26th October 2012

Downtown Dunedin

The wind blew and blew but did not blow our house down. The bottom end of NZ is obviously quite exposed to the elements but we made the best of our two nights at Kaka Point. Bush Walks, Beach Strolls and a Bike Ride on the Coastal Road were all on our busy agenda. On both evenings we went out at dusk to watch the Penguins come in for the night. Have to say that bird-watching on an exposed beach in a gale whilst trying to hide in wet grass is a tad uncomfortable. Hot soup back at the flat has rarely been so welcome. Kaka Point must certainly be a fabulous place in decent weather. Time to head northwards. The road North took us to Balclutha and onwards to the big City of Dunedin. We were back in 'civilisation', traffic lights, parking charges and crowds. Undeterred, we walked miles around town. It's a big University Town and our route to the Botanical Gardens took us through a large College.  It is exam time over here and some students were loading up with beer to celebrate finishing, others looked to be loading cars to go home. Dunedin Railway Station - a long wait for a train Dunedin - at University of Otago We parked by Dunedin Railway Station, one of the City's iconic buildings. Sadly there are no more passenger services leaving from this lovely old station. They do have a scenic trip that goes into the mountains every few days to the Taeiri Gorge. Bit pricey for us and takes about seven hours. Flying - to boulderly go.. Moeraki Village Rolling a boulder TW imitates a chicken - note the pained expression We jumped in our little Yaris and headed for the small Fishing Village of Moeraki. You could be fooled into thinking you were in Cornwall. We found a nice Cabin overlooking the Harbour and headed out to explore. Boulders are the local attraction. They sit on the beach waiting for tourists to come along and attempt to push them along or jump over them. We did not do any of that of course. As the cliff erodes it reveals more of these rocks. There is a perfectly good explanation on how these boulders came to pass but Giant's marbles seems far more logical.