Written by Mod Fam on June 19, 2019

Moeraki Boulders

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Recommendations for Your South Island New Zealand Itinerary: Moeraki Boulders

The Moeraki Boulders are a must-see stop on the coastal route between Dunedin and Christchurch or a drive from Dunedin to Queenstown. If you’re staying close by, it’s worth visiting the Moeraki Boulders and the town of Moeraki as a destination all its own, and there’s plenty to do along this stretch of the South Island’s East Coast.

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Wooden tables and chairs sit on a sandy, grass-covered bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean off of New Zealand's South Island near the village of Moeraki. Turquoise water separates the small peninsula from the mainland, and rolling farmland is visible in the distance, beyond the Moeraki boulder area.

A fishing boat sits near the turquoise water of a small bay at the village of Moeraki, New Zealand. A rusty track descends into the water, and the village is visible in the distance, against the green hills.

A google satellite image of the drive from Dunedin, New Zealand, to Queenstown, across the Southern half of the South Island. Palmerston, Moeraki, Naseby, Ranfurly and Alexandria are visible on the northermost route, while the central route winds through Milton, Miller's Flat, and Roxburgh before joining the Northern route through Alexandria, Clyde, and Cromwell. The southernmost route continues from Milton through Balclutha, Gore, Riversdale, and Lumsden to Athol and on to Queenstown.

There are three main routes from Dunedin to Queenstown, each with its own geography and landscape. The center and Northern routes converge on Alexandra and continue along the reservoir above Clyde through Cromwell before approaching Queenstown from the East. The third, southernmost route follows a lower elevation through Balclutha and Gore before approaching Queenstown from the South. We typically take the central route through Roxburgh for beautiful Central Otago scenery, unless we want to stop by Moeraki and some of the coastal towns further North along the coast. The broad, panoramic vistas along the northernmost route are truly hard to beat, and the landscape changes dramatically from coastal farmland to dry, sparsely populated Central Otago mountains before finally giving way to the rugged mountain region near Queenstown and Wanaka.

A rusted rail track descends from the shore into the turquoise bay at the village of Moeraki. Seaweed dangles from rusty metal posts, and the track has noticeably deteriorated from the salty Pacific Ocean on New Zealand's South Island East Coast.

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Taking the Northern route, one of the most popular stops between Dunedin and Oamaru is the Moeraki Boulders beach, just a few kilometers away from the sleepy fishing village of Moeraki. The boulders draw crowds of visitors, so the early you arrive, the better. If you have a little more time, drive into the town of Moeraki and visit Fleurs Place, an eclectic, award-winning restaurant on the point overlooking the bay across to the boulders on the coastal shore.

Two young sisters stand on concrete steps at the edge of a small bluff looking out over the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand's South Island village of Moeraki. Wind blows their hair, and seaweed floats in the turquoise water beyond them.

A father holds his young daughter in the wind at the edge of a small bluff looking out over the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand's South Island village of Moeraki. A tattoo of the stone engravings at Palenque is visible on his arm.

The Moeraki Boulders: Not Your Typical Beach Balls

The Moeraki Boulders are a composite of mud, silt, and clay, held together by calcite, all of which formed under the surrounding cliffs before erosion etched the softer sandy material around the boulders, depositing them on the shore. Many of the boulders have cracked open, some lying half open and exposed like broken eggs on the beach. Others still hold their round shape, while some are just scattered fragments of rock lying on the beach.

A large, round boulder sits in the sun and sand near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand. A young girl stands near the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

A large, round boulder sits in the sun and sand near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand. Several smaller Moeraki Boulders can be seen in the distance, closer to the crashing waves.

We arrived at Moeraki village mid-morning and bought coffee and pastries at Fleurs Place on the bluff overlooking the bay. The indoor seating is comfortable, and the wooden building feels like a cross between a remodeled church and a re-decorated beach cabin. The outdoor seating sits above the sandy shore on a grassy bluff, and the views of the ocean are spectacular. From Fleurs, it’s just a few minutes further up the coast to the restaurant/shop complex that leads to a wide gravel walking path down to the beach and the boulders. If you want to enjoy the boulders without hoards of people swarming the rocks, get there early; the site has become quite the tourist attraction since our last visit ten years ago.

Two young sisters sit and stand atop two large, round, spherical boulders near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand.

Two young sisters stand next to and atop a large, round, spherical boulder near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand. The Moeraki Boulders like this one formed over time underground and then slowly rolled on to the beach as the surrounding earth eroded. — Some boulders are bigger than others!

A young girl smiles in the wind atop a medium, round, spherical boulder near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand. — This one is just her size

A mother and her two young daughters stand among tide pools and broken Moeraki Boulders near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand.

A young girl stands among tide pools and broken Moeraki Boulders near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand.

The Moeraki Boulders Scenic Reserve

The girls ran around the boulders, splashing in saltwater pools and picking up smaller stones and shells that had washed in with the tide. We balanced and jumped from boulder to boulder along the longest chain of them, five or six neatly lined up in a row, just close enough for us to hop from one to the next.

A young girl stoops to examine a rock at tide pools near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand.

Several large, round, spherical Moeraki Boulders sit in sand and saltwater on New Zealand's East Coast, near the South Island village of Moeraki.

A mother holds her young daughter atop a large, round, spherical boulder near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand.

A family stands atop a large, round, spherical boulder near the village of Moeraki, New Zealand. The Moeraki Boulders like this one formed over time underground and then slowly rolled on to the beach as the surrounding earth eroded.

Three large, round, spherical Moeraki Boulders sit in sand and saltwater on New Zealand's East Coast, near the South Island village of Moeraki, while a seagull walks nearby.

Moeraki Boulder Hatchlings: Then and Now

Back in 2003, Michelle and I packed our bags and moved to New Zealand to study at the University of Otago (it wasn’t really that easy after Michelle’s purse was stolen at LAX and we had to get from L.A. to Seattle to get a replacement passport and then make our way back by car and train to LAX to fly out a week later, just in time for classes to start). Once we settled in to our new life in Dunedin, we found a tiny red Fiat that barely passed inspection and served as our rusty tour guide for our first year in New Zealand. It was the rusty red Fiat that brought us here sixteen years ago, and now we’re back in a rust-colored rental, our two little hatchlings in tow. We found the same cracked boulder that Ben climbed inside in 2003, though it seems to have turned and shifted over time, probably from the constant ebb and flow of the tide slowly churning the sandy sludge beneath the massive stones.