Story: Otago places

Roadside Stories: The Moeraki boulders

In Māori tradition the remarkable spherical boulders on Moeraki beach are eel pots – or baskets of kūmara (sweet potato) washed ashore from the Ārai-te-uru voyaging canoe. To scientists the boulders are concretions, formed around 60 million years ago from sediment and calcite.

Listen to a Roadside Story about the Moeraki boulders. Roadside Stories is a series of audio guides to places around New Zealand.

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How to cite this page:

Malcolm McKinnon, 'Otago places - North Otago', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/interactive/35349/roadside-stories-the-moeraki-boulders (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Malcolm McKinnon, updated 1 Jul 2015