Amazing Facts About Moeraki Boulders.

The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave-cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden. They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve. The erosion by wave action of mudstone, comprising local bedrock and landslides, frequently exposes embedded isolated boulders. These boulders are grey-colored septarian concretions, which have been exhumed from the mudstone enclosing them and concentrated on the beach by coastal erosion

1. There are over 50 boulders along Koekohe Beach.

2. The biggest boulders weigh 7 tons and measure over 2 metres across.

3. It took about 4 million years for the largest boulders to form to their current size.1 The tiny fragments however began forming about 60 million years ago.

4. There were many more boulders on the beach back in the 19th century, based on old photos. People took the smaller boulders to use as garden ornaments or as souveniors. This is of course now illegal to do.

5. There is one very large Moeraki boulder outside the Otago Museum in Dunedin – it was taken there by truck in the late 1800s; long before laws were changed to give protection to the boulders. It is located outside the old main entrance of the museum on Great King Street. It measures 6 feet (over 182cm) in height and weighs more than 7 tons; making it one of the largest boulders. There are also much smaller boulders on display inside the Museum.

6. Maori call the boulders “eel pots”. Some locals call them “hooligans gallstones”. Other names that have been bestowed upon the boulders include “giant gobstoppers”, “alien’s brains”, “the bowling balls of giants” and the “Stonehenge of New Zealand”!

7. The Moeraki  Boulders have legal protection and it is prohibited to damage, graffiti or remove them.