Mother Nature’s Soccer Balls? Well… they look like they could have been soccer balls!
One of the more unusual sights that we enjoyed on our trip was the Moeraki Boulders. Strewn upon Koekohe Beach south of Oamaru on New Zealand’s Otago Coastline they look as if Mother Nature grew tired of playing soccer. The boulders draw crowds that climb upon them, gaze upon and wonder about just “how” these spherical stones came to be.
These large stone spheres are approximately 60 million years old and were formed in ancient sea sediments by a process known as concretion and are made of mud, fine silt and clay, which is cemented by calcite. In more recent time the stones are now being exposed due to erosion of the shoreline cliffs along the coast. Several of these stones can boast that they weigh up to several tons and have a diameter of 7 feet.
A Maori legend tells that the stones are made from the remains of various baskets washed upon the shore after the canoe Araiteuru became wrecked at nearby Shag Point.
For more information on these fascinating works of Mother Nature please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders
