McCrain's
in Middle Earth
A travel dialogue of our adventures
in New Zealand
In February 2004, Jim and Kathy McCrain began a five month oddessy in New Zealand. Kathy was transferred to Auckland for a temporary work assignment, and Jim followed her for moral support. (Isn't he just the greatest husband?) What follows is Jim's account of this adventure.
Strange Sites and Sea Life
July 19, 2004
We
spent the night in Omarama. Don’t confuse this town with Oamura,
though. They are at least 60 kilometers apart! We passed quickly through
this region, on our way to the East Coast and the little town of 
Moeraki.
There we saw the intriguing Moeraki Boulders.
These are a group of about 50 perfectly round boulders, sitting on the
edge of the surf. (They don’t sink into the sand because they
are sitting on a ledge of rock.) Local Maori legend says that these
boulders are actually the baskets of food and supplies that were lost
overboard when their ancestors came to this land and encountered a large
storm. I see no reason to not believe them. There is very little other
explanation for this phenomenon.
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After
leaving Moeraki, we continued south down the coast to a fur seal colony.
There were about a dozen of these magnificent creatures lounging on
the rocks, but one of them put on quite a show for us, diving into the
water, fishing, and climbing around again, all for our personal enjoyment!
Or so it seemed, because we had the beach all to ourselves! Romantic,
to say the least!
After sun-down, we continued to drive for several hours. Our destination for the night was Te Anau. “Why there?” you ask? Read on!
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