A Pure New Zealand Dream
The Coastal Sanctuary sits above a stunning piece of waterfront coastline close to the quaint North Otago fishing village of Moeraki - an hour's drive north of Dunedin and less than half-an-hour south of Oamaru.
Standing between picturesque rolling farmland and stunning coastal scenery, these generous lifestyle blocks command views many kilometres up the coast and then across an intimate bay to the Moeraki village.
These waterfront properties are positioned perfectly for the sun - watch the sun rise!
The Coastal Sanctuary sits just above several kilometres of unbroken beach only a few hundred metres from the mysterious Moeraki Boulders, just one of the many magical things that make the area unique.
It's a relaxing 20 minutes stroll to the charming Moeraki village along the Millennium Walkway. You may meet some of the locals - yellow-eyed penguins, little blue penguins and fur seals, or perhaps rare Hector's dolphins which do play in the surf.
The Mystery of the Moeraki Boulders
Maori legend tells of a great migration, in large sea going waka or canoes, which brought them to Aotearoa from their ancestral home of Hawaiki. That same legend tells of an ill-fated greenstone gathering trip of the waka of the Araiteuru people which was wrecked nearby.
While the remains of the vessel became a reef and kumara (sweet potato) became rocks, the round food baskets or te kahinaki were washed ashore and formed the almost perfectly spherical boulders scattered along a 50 metre stretch of the beach.
For the less romantic, the scientific explanation describes the boulders as septarian concretions - a rare phenomenon formed on the seabed about 60 million years ago as lime salts accumulated around a hard centre.
When the seabed later became raised, the soft sandstone around the boulders began to be weathered away releasing the boulders from the embankment above the beach.
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