1/April Oamaru, Elephant Rocks, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

Sunday April 1st.

Today we watched the sun rise up over the Moeraki Boulders.  It was an awesome sight.  We headed to the yellow eyed penguins home to try and catch a glimpse of the adults heading out to go fishing, but we just saw the juveniles who wait all day for the parents to come back to feed them.  We were able to spot more NZ fur seals as well.

Sunrise over one of the boulders.

A baby yellow-eyed penguin.

Mom and Tara on the early morning trail.

After breakfast and a quick jump on the trampoline with the motel owners kids, we headed to the wonderful town of Oamaru.  It is known for its quaint Victorian buildings.  The kids were able to try Southland sushi-better known as a cheese roll!  We then headed over to check out the Elephant Rocks, Moari cave drawings, and the valley where they filmed the camp and battle scene for first Narnia movie: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Beautiful downtown Oamaru!

A British tea shop in the background!

Oamaru harbor.

Standing by the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away . . .

Tara and Mom on their way to the Maori cave drawings.

Explorer Gabe, ready to climb some Elephant rocks.

Gabe and Tara in a cave.

Duntroon Vanished World Museum.

The kids hunt for fossils.  The guy volunteering in museum was 

really great, he obviously loved to teach kids.

Tara at the sight of the filming of L, W & W.

Where Aslan's camp was for the movie.

The outside of Beavers house from the movie.

Brody points out a detail from the movie.

Saturday March 31st Moeraki and the Moeraki Boulders

Saturday March 31st Moeraki

Today we got up early and ate breakfast on the road as we traveled to Moeraki.  This was the farthest place we have traveled in one day and the almost four hour trip was made a little more treacherous by the thick fog and heavy cloud cover.  However, by the time we arrived on the eastern coast the sun was shining and it was stunning weather.  The people who owned the B & B had two daughters and two dogs.  The kids enjoyed meeting them and jumping on their trampoline.

Our first stop after eating lunch was the fascinating Moeraki Boulders!

In quotations below is taken from:  http://www.moerakiboulders.com/    This website has a short video as well if you want to check it out.

“The Moeraki Boulders are a group of very large spherical “stones” on Koekohe Beach near Moeraki on New Zealand’s Otago coast. These boulders are actually concretions that have been exposed through shoreline erosion from coastal cliffs that back the beach.

They originally formed in ancient sea floor sediments around 60 million years ago.”

Gabe lounges on a boulder.

One of the Moeraki boulders.

Tara sits on one where you can see internally.

Brody meditates in this calm place!

Next, we headed to the Moeraki lighthouse and saw tons of wild life.  There were several of the very rare yellow eyed penguins and lots and lots of NZ fur seals.  

Moeraki  lighthouse.

The small peninsula just below the lighthouse that 

was teeming with wildlife. 

Two yellow-eyed penguins, one is molting.

A NZ fur seal.

It was amazing how close we were.

Gabe watches the wildlife (better than the discovery or nature channel).

We stopped in the downtown area and walked around the harbor and then along the beach before heading back to our motel, the Moeraki Haven.

Moeraki harbor.

Literary Character Day at school!

Friday March 30th

Today the kids could dress up as their favorite literary character.  Brody went as Harry Potter and Tara went as Dorothy.  Gabe was not so interested and so he went as himself!  The kids had fun and then we had a great treat night!

Dorothy aka Tara and Toto

Harry and Dorothy