The Story of Moeraki

The Story of Moeraki

Sometimes a place doesn't live up to expectations on the road. I know that has happened to me several times on trips. The hype gets too much and then it tanks. But then there's the flipside, when a place which maybe you weren't super thrilled about visiting that ends up completely blowing you away or you find a spot that you weren't expecting to enjoy so much.

Those are my favorite moments - I love travel surprises, it's probably my inner child speaking, but still. I like to think travel experiences can't always be planned out to a T or always be predictable. Do you know what I mean?Don't worry, most people haven't. A blip on the road between Dunedin and Christchurch, most people visiting New Zealand don't even get to this part of the country, let alone go out of their way to visit Moeraki. If you somehow miraculously DO find yourself in this neck of the woods, it's usually for a quick photo stop at the famous Moeraki Boulders, a couple kilometers out of the 'town' itself.

A bizarre and striking geological phenomenon - which here in New Zealand considering how many bizarre and striking spots we have, might not be so much of a phenomenon - there are giant rocks, perfectly round boulders, seemingly washed up on a beach. How did they get there? Who knows. We'll get to that in a minute.

I don't know if it's horrible of me to mention, but I wasn't even that excited to see the boulders. Looking back, I could have easily just driven by them on my way north to PENGUINS (all caps) in Oamaru. But then someone mentioned on Facebook about an awesome restaurant in Moeraki, of all places, and I must go. I believe her exact words were something along the lines of 'this place is my favorite restaurant in the world and I live in London.' Boom. Gauntlet. I do not take food suggestions lightly so I decided Moeraki was thus worth a stop.