Moeraki Boulders

The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave cut Otagocoast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden, and are located at 45°20′42.99″S 170°49′33.82″E  /  45.345275°S 170.8260611°E  / -45.345275; 170.8260611 . 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.

They originally formed in ancient sea floor sediments during the early Paleocene some 60 million years ago.

The boulders weigh several tonnes and are up to three metres in diametre.

Maori legend tells that the boulders are remains of calabashes, kumaras and eel baskets that washed ashore after the legendary canoe, the Araiteuru was wrecked at nearby Shag Point (Matakaea).