After three days of rain, woke Wednesday to SUNSHINE.

Skipped my morning run, opting for an afternoon harbor trek in nearby Oamaru.  Easy coastal drive on New Zealand’s Highway 1.  Cool morning temps.  Rural, flat.  No traffic, landscape void of the Island’s Southern Alps.

right, Moeraki Boulders.  left, Trotters Gorge.  1030am – how ‘bout both?

One hour rainforest jaunt toward the Gorge.  After multiple days in ‘civilization’, GREAT to be outside again & hiking.  Sounds of cicada, giant ferns wet with moisture – LOVE LOVED this morning.  Cave explored, then rental car’d another 2 miles north to the Boulders.  $5 in an ‘honest’ jar, then descended on Koekohe Beach using stairs created by the gift shop.

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.

 

Local Māori legends explained the boulders as the remains of eel baskets, calabashes, and kumara washed ashore from the wreck of Arai-te-uru, a large sailing canoe.

Wonder of nature.  Like giant fossilized sea turtle eggs, pushed up/eroded from the sand.  Precisely spherical, randomly dropped/isolated on NZ’s Pacific shore.  Walked an hour up & down the beach – enjoying the ocean breeze, soaking up Vitamin D.

whatta sunrise – WOW!

Lunch & an ice cream bar, then road-warrior’d 45 minutes further to Oamaru.

Hotel check-in, harbour-walked past old rotting bridges covered with sea birds – to tonite’s adventure destination: Oamaru’s Blue Penguin Colony.  Purchased our VIP tickets (worth every dime) – laced up/got my afternoon run on.

Penguin Crossing sign (don’t see THAT every day), then switchback’d UP, UP, UP.  Climbed Cape Wanbrow Reserve, trail-ran high above Oamaru – WOW views of the mighty Pacific below.  Last long run before Saturday’s Kirikiriroa Marathon.

Dusk.  Nature guides kept eyes on the ocean while ‘paying customers’ quietly huddled in a small outdoor amphitheatre (unfortunately, no pics allowed).  Pods of 6, 10, 15 small penguins banded together, beached, then waddled uphill past our premium seats.  Man-made boxes constructed on shore would act as the birds’ evening home – returning back to the ocean early pre-dawn.  WOW WOW WOW!

South Island, super sad to say goodbye.  Glaciers, waterfalls, rainforest.  Jetboated the Waimakariri, cruised Doubtful Sound, climbed to the top of Larnach Castle & witnessed magic – the world’s smallest penguins returning home after day-fishing the Pacific.

Next up: Hamilton, on New Zealand’s tropical North.

Koekohe Beach, NZ