Moeraki Day 1

We recently spent a weekend down at Moeraki with the photography club, Focus Aorangi from Timaru.

The weather forecast was for strong SW gales and snow down to 100m in Southland and Otago. The snow didn’t eventuate but the gales coming up from the deep south certainly did. The gales were to have an impact over exposed parts of the country and which kept a keen bunch of photographers enthralled as will be seen later.

On the way down we called into Kakanui where we first met the force of the wind. The huge swells had stirred up the sea so that it was brown with all the sand disturbed by the high energy impact of waves crashing onto the shore.

Cold and uninviting. Kakanui from the north side.

It was an early start on Saturday to catch the sunrise. At this time of the year the first hint of dawn was around 0730 hrs.

After breakfast we headed off down through Palmerston to Waikouaiti and the farm at Matanaka.

This farm was set up by Johnny Jones, an Australian who set up a whaling station nearby in 1838. When the whaling decreased he purchased nearby land and built farm buildings in 1840.

The five buildings are the oldest surviving farm buildings that are still in their original position in the country. The farm is owned and administered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, and the buildings are registered as Category I and are considered "historically outstanding".

Matanaka Farm buildings - built 1840 

Behind the stable block in the next photo one looks out over the sea to the entrance to Otago harbour.

The old gum on a commanding coastal position

From left: Implement shed, latrine, school room

Johnny Jones supplied the early settlers in Dunedin with fresh meat and vegetables using small boats as transport. Inside the implement shed there is an example of one such boat made of local materials and sail cloth.

 Access to the school room was only as far as the foyer. There was good view out the window!

The school room

The stables

The Historic Places Trust has made a great job of restoration and ongoing maintenance as the photo inside the stables shows

Reflections in the stable window

Cattle still graze on the paddocks 175 years later.

Leaving Matanaka we stopped along the coast by the beach. High tide and a good swell saw the waves in action and coastal erosion below our feet! 

The bank is being steadily eroded with pieces falling in whilst
I took photos here.

After lunch at Shag Point, next stop was the lighthouse at Moeraki with the object of getting up close to some marine life in the reserve there.

The Moeraki or Katiki Point lighthouse first shone on 22 April 1878 and was automated in 1978. It overlooks a marine reserve where there are seals on the rocks below and plentiful seabirds of course. 

This seal was waiting for the next wave before plunging in.

Hanging on tight in the wind which ruffled the gull's feathers.

The reserve is also a very important nesting site for the hoiho, (Megadyptes antipodes) or Yellow-eyed penguin. I did see one hoiho but it was too far away to get a photo which was good enough to publish here. Time was short and I didn't have time to wait until they were coming back home from a day out fishing.


An earlier trip to Moeraki saw the following traditional shots taken of the boulders on a bright sunny day.

The weekend trip saw us arrive at the boulders around an hour before sunset. A chance to experiment with an ND stopper. The shot below had a 10s exposure.

A variable density ND filter allowed this shot at ISO-100 and f/9 to give a good depth of focus.

The Moeraki boulders are one of New Zealand's must spots. As I don't like taking photos with people in them, if possible, patience is a virtue. I had to wait some time before the posers had finished and there was a gap before the next lot crawled into this one.

Septarian concretion

These boulders were formed around 56-66 million years ago. they are composed of mud, fine silt and clay cemented together with calcite and are around 1 metre in diameter. 

Shot details: ISO-100, 4s at f/6.3, Night portrait  setting

Nearly sunset

As the sun dipped below the horizon it was time to get the tripods set up and start experimenting with exposures to get the best shots of burning steel wool. Some of the results are below. 

Shot details: 10s, at f/6.3. ISO-100.

More photos and details of how we got these photos can be found here.

Day 2

Central Otago

We recently traveled down to Central Otago for the weekend. This was the first weekend in June at the start of winter. As we wanted to be there by lunchtime an early departure was called for. Not far out of town we were treated to a colourful sunrise.

Pleasant Point sunrise

The Lindis Pass rises to 971m and winter conditions can be expected between say May and October. A snowfall a few days before had been cleared and the road clear of ice, (during the day at least) when we passed through. Plenty more of snow can be expected through here for the next 4- 5 months.

Lindis Pass. Looking back towards Omarama. 

The south facing slopes in the above shot still have snow on them whereas looking in the other direction, the snow sunny side has mostly melted.

Towards the summit of the Lindis Pass.

On the way back home we took another route home from Alexandra, State Highway 85 ("The Pigroot")

At Omakau there is a turnoff to the Ida Valley which we hadn't taken before.

Omakau on the other side of the river.

Before we drove up this hill we took a short detour into the small town of Ophir.

In 1863 gold was discovered in the Manuherikia River and the small town called Blacks sprang up overnight. This town was later renamed Ophir.

One of Ophir’s claims to fame was that it had been recognised as having recorded the coldest temperature in New Zealand of -21.6°C on 3 July 1993. However when records were being digitised from paper records, a temperature of -25.6°C had been recorded at Ranfurly, 60km away, on 17 July 1903. Ranfurly thus holds the record for being the coldest in the South-West Pacific and Ophir the second place. (Colder temperatures will of course occur high up in the mountains.)

Great use was made of the local rocks such as schist in constructing more permanent buildings, some of which have been lovingly restored.

Ophir's historic Post Office and Peace Memorial Hall (1926)

Although not open when we were there, The Post Office retains its original features inside and incorporates a small shop and postal facilities. Well worth a visit.

The Police lockup is not the place to be in the middle of winter.

A few metres away from the Post Office but I didn't find out its purpose.

On the other side of the street is the old Drapery Store which has seen better days.

The Drapery Store, main street Ophir

900m out of town is one of Central Otago's engineering masterpieces. Considering it was opened in 1880 and that the railway didn't reach Omakau until 1904, transporting the materials to build a bridge would have been a mammoth task.

The bridge over the Manuherikia river at Ophir.

A well maintained historic structure.

Large holes would have been dug by hand to provide places top anchor the suspension cables.

Shepherd's Hut? made from schist.

My navigator spotted this hut on the way up the hill before dropping down into the snowy Ida Valley on the way home. Going the other way it would be easy to see.