Dunedin and the Moeraki Boulders

Dunedin

Having made our back from the Otago Peninsula without driving into the sea, much to Nic's relief, we stopped off at nearby Dunedin for a couple of days.

There isn't a great deal to do here - most of the things that people come here for are what we did whilst on the peninsula - but we quite liked the town as a place to spend a few days. Unlike many of the places that we stayed in in New Zealand, Dunedin had lots of great cafes that actually were open during the whole day and bars that stayed open late in the evening.

Dunedin

Not only that, but there was a good range of bars for those of us that like to hear some good music - live or otherwise - without being completely deafened the whole time. It made for a good place to have some nice evenings out. And our hostel was above a bar and pool hall, and we got to play for free during the daytime.

Otago Daily Times, Dunedin

Oh, and probably thanks to a very pronounced Scottish influence here, there was a decent fish and chip shop that not only did the food well, it also had proper Sarsons malt vinegar to go on the chips. That may not sound important, but when you've had no vinegar on your chips for the last eight months, it's surprising how happy little things like that can make you!

All that aside though, Dunedin was quite a nice, normal feeling town. The shops were decent, and there was some interesting architecture to look at as you walked around. The railway station, built in 1906 and designed by George Alexander Troup, is said to be both the best bit of Edwardian architecture and the most photographed building in New Zealand.

Law Courts, Dunedin

Railway Station, Dunedin

Baldwin Street, Dunedin

And Dunedin is home to the Guinness Record for the steepest street in the world. The hill on Baldwin Street has in incline of 1:2.86, which means that for every 2.86 metres along, you have to go a metre up in height. Every July, they hold the Cadbury's Jaffa Race here, when they roll 25,000 Jaffas down the hill. For those of us non-Kiwis, Jaffas are small dark chocolate balls with a orange flavoured smartie like outer shell. I must admit, it was a shame that we missed that, but the timings just didn't quite work out.

Baldwin Street, Dunedin

Moeraki Boulders

Before we leave this post, we'll also cover a stop off that we made after we left Dunedin, on the way to Oamaru. We had seen a picture of some big round rocks called the Moeraki Boulders, and thought they looked interesting enough to merit a look. They are on the shoreline, so it was lucky that we were going to be passing while the tide was sufficiently out so that we could see them them.

Moeraki Boulders

Moeraki Boulders

I am glad we stopped, as I thought they looked quite beautiful, and when you get close to ones that have broken apart, it is fascinating to see the structure of them. They are not solid rock, but concretions, which is where sediment has been bound together with a kind of glue - in this case calcite. The concretions grow outwards evenly, creating the huge, spherical boulders, some of which are over 2 metres wide and weigh around 7 tonnes.

Moeraki Boulders

They are believed to have taken about 4 million years to have formed, and were in the mud on the sea bed until it was pushed up out of the ocean to form cliffs around 15 million years ago. Gradually, as the cliffs eroded, these boulders came loose, and rolled down to the beach, where they sit today.

Moeraki Boulders

The Maori call them eel pots, while the locals named them hooligans' gallstones. Whatever we call them though, they look amazing.

Moeraki Boulders

Moeraki Boulders