Moeraki Mini's (North Otago) Virtual Reward 2.0 Waitaki District, South Island, New Zealand
By hill55 on 19-Jan-20. Waypoint GC890X5

A great spot. Were on the way south from lovely lunch at Moeraki with friends, got few caches there abd this on the way home is a beaut!

The origins of these boulders is fascinating. I stopped to get this virtual on my way to Oamaru after attending the mega in Dunedin. Every time I see these boulders they are different as regards to size and completeness. Thank you for this virtual.

Day #13 Dunedin to Lake Tekapo - The Mega New Zealand ExperienceA chance for an overseas Mega was too good to pass up. Especially with half the state seeming to be attending also. I set about some last minute planning. Flights still available Accommodation found Mode of transport securedLooks like its time to cross the ditch. Ive never visited the South Island before so it is bound to be a fun filled trip.Its time to leave Dunedin now that that the mega is over. Lots more adventures though before I leave NZ, lets hope the snow doesnt get in the way!I had a less than gracious climb down to this area, but at least the return journey was tame. A great view as the tide is slowly coming in. A big thanks goes to hill55 for taking the time to add Moeraki Mini's (North Otago) Virtual Reward 2.0 to the geocaching map for us all to find and enjoy.----------------------------------------------------------Wow! The fun just never stops.Have you logged your will attend for Victoria's first ever Block Party? (Think Mega but even more special!)Join us on 22-23 March 2025 in Sunbury to celebrate 25 years of geocaching by logging your will attend at [**GCAP417**](https://coord.info/GCAP417).

Down here for the Dunedin Geo Toroa Event from the sunny Bay of Plenty,Tauranga and are with some of Team BoP. Great to get together with our fellow cachers. Signed Logs MDF. (McJandals,Davidson clan & NZ Flossy)I am logging using the Cachly App and using their template option which helps with my memory for logging. I genuinely thank every CO for their time and effort put into these caches. Much appreciated. ??????

?????? Down in Dunedin for the Mega event. Travelling with Davidsonclan and McJandals. Really fun to be out and about with the team and catching up with other cachers friends from everywhere. Thanks to all the organisers and all the COs for some great caches. It is certainly a lovely area of New Zealand ??????TFTC ??????

Down in Dunedin for the Mega this weekend with McJandals and NZFLOSSY. High tide hopefully this photo from the top will be ok as we are just passing through.

Thanks for placing and maintain for our enjoyment Found with Snickersallan, Wollaston and chamadVisiting Christchurch for a few days, now heading down to attend Geotora MegaFavourite point awarded for bringing us to such a mythical wonder of nature

Found with ivss_xx on our way to the mega. Thanks for bringing us here to see this cool thing! I never wouldve made it a point to stop off here. Heaps of neat stuff on and below the cliff. Well done. Have a FP.

Heading south to Dunedin with geo friends for the Mega weekend and stopping for a few caches along the way, combined with a leg stretch or two.Loving the beautiful green landscape, the mountains and now the ocean.Thank you, hill55, for bringing us to this amazing location, we absolutely loved it and so worthy of a FP.

15:57FITW ObnoxiousSpaceCat Awesome spot! I remember spotting this virtual while driving past a few times before, but never really had the time or the tide to stop.This time, we actually missed the parking waypoint by 2km, but as the tide was right, decided to turn back. And it was a good decision! Really cool place! Some of the rock shapes look like out of this world. And, of course the adorable mini-moeraki boulders are so cool!The descent was steep but nothing too extreme. T rating is appropriate. Even though the low point of the tide was still almost 2h away, we could already access GZ with dry feet.Kia ora! ???? Paldies! ????Thanks for the cache, hill55! +Fav!#11433

#22856 @1440Back in NZ to attend the Geo Toroa Mega in Dunedin. Today was driving from Christchurch to Dunedin, targeting a few specific caches to help with various challenges and goals. A fascinating spot to visit. TFTC.

What a cool place. Dad wanted to bring one back, I found a barbie stuck under one, and mr10 couldn't stop playing and got his feet wet. We saw a giant peanut on the way down, a double boulder that had just come off the slip. Thanks for taking us here. Good break on our way to Dunedin and the mega.

Second picture

Second picture

What an awesome spot! A definite favourite point from me for the location. Outnabout with Chamad, Snickersallan & Bluewattle on my first ever trip across the ditch. After a week of caching around Brisbane and at events last month with other Geo friends, I couldnt pass up the opportunity to hop on board for a NZ Mega adventure. Another great day for caching. TFTC hill55

A plan was hatched quite a while ago when the Dunedin Mega was announced to come over to the South Island again. I have only been to New Zealand twice before and I loved the South Island. So a chance to come back for a Mega was a no brainer for me. Everything was booked and I flew in on Saturday after a bit of a delay. So Day 6 of my Mega NZ trip begins and Im on my own again so lets go find a few more caches along the way. So after arriving in Oamaru yesterday afternoon the plan for the day was to have a look around town then head towards Dunedin.Up early as per usual and after a bit of a tour around town its time to start heading South again.The tide and my bad knee did not do me any favours for this one.So hopefully some pics from up the top will surpass.Thanks hill55 TFTVC.

Day 9 of our Enzed adventures with Robmc. We spent the night in Oamaru so we can visit Steampunk HQ today.After we left Oamaru we headed to Dunedin and collected a couple of caches along the way.Thanks for contributing to the fun hill55

Day nine of our epic New Zealand Adventure with The Morris.A traveling day today from Oamaru to Dunedin (with a few caches on the side!)A little tricky getting down the cliff. We were very pleased that it wasn't wet.The tide was running out, but it left the rock we wanted quite slippery.Made our way back up without incident.Thanks, Robmc.

Scrambled down after finding a Dedicated Bench near by. Grabbed a photo.

A lower tide this avo, so the lad and I went down for a looksie... Nice and easy, until the swampy sea lettuce stuff which was deceptivly deep and wet... So ended up with wet shoes and the lad fell over into it - phewy it stunk! Oh well, picture taken, lessons learnt and another cool feature along this coast discovered. Cheers

It was a lovely low tide at Shag Point this morning so I walked 1.3km up the coast from the more southerly parking area. Passed lots of these round boulders along the shore on the way here. TFTC - most interesting .

These boulder are so awesome, big or small.Thanks for the cache./herrFamaxe from Sweden

Certainly a steep hike down. Managed to scale my way to GZ and get the required pic!

Fabulous place thanks for showing us this place. Armed with a tide chart we arrived at 3.15 for low tide. Fellow caches read the waypoints lest you go down a perilous way to the north. Once on the rock shelf and beach there were many Moeraki Minis to see. Exit so that you are near the Keep Left sign.

Heute konnte auch dieser Virtuelle gefunden und geloggt werden.Danke an den owner fr's herfhren und ausdenken.TFTCSchmerzbefreitGreat location - I love it

After years on our bucket list and three cancellations due to Covid, we are thrilled to finally be here. Following several cruises we flew from Sydney, Australia to Wellington, New Zealand to begin our next adventure. Picked up our rental vehicle and will be driving, exploring, hiking, and caching both islands for 3.5 weeks. After visiting the Moeraki Boulders it was fun to stop and view these. Tide was coming in, but we could still get a good view of the number of mini boulders. Thanks for developing this virtual cache. Thanks for adding to our adventure today, Nukeworker and Racquetball Girl, Arkansas, USA

I visited this virtual geocache together with BK-Br. We took so many pictures! The scenary let me think of ... dinosaur eggs were spread all over the beach. In my opinion the Moerake Mini Boulders are much more interesting than the popular big ones (which are buried mostly under sand, compared to the year 2003, when we've been there the first time). Thank you so much for this very interesting virtual cache that brought us to this amazing place.It's definitely one of my favourite geocaches in whole New Zealand!

During an awesome New Zealand vacation I visited together with Wombatmann (who sent in the answers to the CO) this amazing placeThis was one of the most impressive places we visited.Everyone knows and wants to see the big boulders, but this beach with these mimi ones were even more impressive to us.We love this place and had so much fun exploring this placeThank you very much for this Earthcache

Had a job in Palmerston so detoured up here to grab this for this month’s challenge. Wasn’t low tide but took a chance I could find a birthing taking place. Spied one and the water seemed out far enough to claim it. Took my photo just before a larger wave washed up the rocks. I scrambled backwards in the slippery surface, managing to keep my footing and only had a little water wash over my shoes!! Quickly retreated to higher ground.
Thanks for the cache, hill55
#5269

Had the most fascinating walk along the beach at low tide. Geomum007 and coconuts3 were my lovely companions. It wasn't a quick journey!! The geology here is wonderful. We all found it so interesting, so glad that we didn't take a very dubious path down from one of the WP's. However, we did do a scramble back up which saved alot of tiring rock clambering for old bones ( Talking for myself!). Requested photo posted. Thanks SO much for this virtual, it is one of the best I have done.

Having a fun day geocaching with busy paws and Geomum007. We couldn't find a way down so parked at picnic spot and walked 1.4km to GZ. This proved interesting at times but had planned for low tide, just the seaweed got us in places. It is awesome to see these cute mini boulders after seeing the big ones earlier. Very happy to see the special mini boulder. Thanks for this Virtual cache hill55. Photo attached as required.

We took the long way to this cache having not being able to spot a safe way down from the road. So along with Busy paws and coconuts3 we strolled the beach from a further rest area, have to say the geology was thoroughly enjoyed, very interesting walk! We spotted an access point from the beach to return by along the road. Our lunch was well deserved when we got back to the cars. A fav from me. TFTC!

Day 3 of the South Island adventure for Carø and I. Today we drove from Moeraki around to Invercaggil along the Caitlins. Amazing views along the whole stretch. We found several caches along the way. This was such an amazing place to visit. While I left Carø half way with her bung ankle I scrambled down to scope these minis out. Very awesome to see. Thanks for placing this one a definite fav from me

What an amazing area this is. Over with kestal for 3 weeks, we finished the Tarawera Ultramarathon 50km run just 6 days before getting here, and with my ankle misbehaving I only got part way to gz, but close enough to be awed by the nature and process displayed here. We would love to have had a few more days in Moeraki and surrounds, but made the most of the time we had. Message sent to CO and permission to log recieved. Thanks for this virtual cache, hill55 and for showing us yet another location we would not have known about otherwise!

That was a great tip, we had the Mini Boulders to ourselves. The cache made me stop here. Beautiful, interesting coast, we admired the stones. Thanks for the cache and greetings from Germany.

Amazing place,we were lucky when we arrived it was low tide.Greetings from the Czech Republic and Thanks For This Cache.I sending
Díky za keš.
16:47
Moje 4541

On the way to Timaru we had at first a break here by the Mini Moeraki.
Thanks for showing say GeoGrillen

Thanks for bringing down here. This was the third time I have stopped here for this cache. Happy to finally make it and it is definitely worth stopping here is the tide is out. We were close to 2 hours from a low low tide and we could just see enough. Wouldnt really want to be any later.
Thanks for the virtual

On the way to Oamaru we also visited the Moeraki Boulders. A wonder what nature can all create.
Unfortunately we were here at high tide, but we hope it's OK.
TFTC!
Greetings from Germany
Felsmaus

FITW albijos

Heading to Dunedin for some caching. Finding few along the way. We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise here. TFTC.

FITW HariSree

We are on a caching trip to Dunedin . Picking up few caches along the way.
Thank you for bringing us here by placing this cache.

What a fascinating location. Lots of mini boulders strewn on the beach, and some unusual rock formations at the base of the cliff. Although the track down to the beach was less than ideal for a couple of geriatrics, we gingerly made our way down, then over the pile of protective boulders. Although we have visited the big boulders many times, we have never seen, or even been aware of the minis. TFTC

We really enjoyed our rock hopping walk along the beach to GZ. It wasn't exactly low tide, but we managed to scramble around the points.
We enjoyed visiting here way more than the main attraction.
Thanks for putting this virtual here

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but this spot is waaaaaay better than the main Moeraki Boulders!

So many more interesting boulders and crazy things happening here.

Maybe they are smaller, but they are definitely exciting!

Thanks for taking us to this spot, reminds us the reason we geocache.

FP for the location for sure!

Photo with Karma Reprint. Such an interesting beach which was deserted. Had no idea it was there. Tftc

What a wonderful spot, mini boulders everywhere. A fav point from me for this spot. A nice quick find thanks.

Ms_KR and I are on a wee South Island break. A cruise today from Glenavy to Dunedin, with good conditions all day!

Thanks to all CO's for publishing and maintaining their caches. Cheers.

On my way to Nelson. Great spot. Tftc

Very tricky way down now! Such an interesting coastline. Cell phone coverage was very patchy for me too. I couldn't open the page. Thanks for setting up this virtual hill55

This a unique spot just alo g the way is a pristine sandy east coast ocean beach .
Then these unique rocks thanks for the virtual

No coverage at gz. Logged it all including a photo. Photo didn't log so here it is.

Sent the photo. We’re a bit old to be clambering down cliff faces

#10,421. I have a big day planned picking out geotour caches on the north side of the harbour, up to Karitane and Moeraki and back to my accommodation in Dunedin. Plus grabbing a lot of adventure labs. The sun has come out and after some rather chilly December weather on this trip its forecast to reach 27 degrees today and I think they got that right. It was very hot today.

Heading north now to Moeraki but saw there was a virtual cache along this stretch of road so stopped at the layby close by. There was a motorcyclist parked there and when I peered over the cliff he said did I want to get down to the beach. I said yes and he pointed to a bulldozed access way just to the north. Its very steep so I slid down on my behind. But reached the rock wall below then walked through the red algae sludge towards GZ. The rocks here are super slippery from water seeping off the cliff face after the recent rains. I very gingerly approached the GZ and could see the mini boulders birthing out of the mudstone rock. Very cool. Never seen anything like this. One reminded me of the egg in the film Alien about to burst out and smother your face. Spent a while taking photos before making my way back up the steep face to the car. Thanks hill55 for pointing out this fascinating feature. Will upload a few photos.

Really wanted to see the mini boulders so we pulled over on our way south. I managed to scramble down to the beach and headed towards GZ. Unfortunately a couple of birds must have had a nest nearby because they started making a racket and flying at me. I managed to take a couple of photos before retreating up the cliff. TFTC.

There is a new challenge that has been published and it is based on the number of virtual caches that have been logged. When we checked to see if we qualify I did a search and realised that we have been and gathered information and photos for so many virtuals but we had not got around to logging them.
Time to put that right.
Went through our photos and found the required photo, it was getting dark when we were here and we plan to come back again one day when we are passing to explore some more.
Thank you for showing us this incredible spot.
Thanks for the virtual cache and thank you for the smiley

Unfortunately the nearby roadworks make it impossible to stop nearby at the moment - and I was pressed for time, didn't want to walk a few km.... sooner or later the roadworks will finish !

took several photos from cliff top did not venture down to beach level to comply with the virtual requirements. There was lots of red sea weed filling the bay.

#19214. Troodles quickly located the path, which had to be traversed with care (slippery clay). The rock retaining wall was easy enough to traverse, but that still left the red seaweed to contend with. The easiest path looked like it would be where a bit of a stream was flowing, and once through the seaweed it didn't take long to get to GZ. The small boulders were very cool; thanks for bringing me here.

Found with StreetWalkerNZ on a day in and around Moeraki, Shag Point and further south. The day started with a little rain early on, then ended with more, but in between we were lucky to have a dry day .
Good to get two caches for the price of one stop . These boulders are a long way from their mummies and daddies . Thanks for showing us these wee cuties and TFTVC.

Why is it high tide every time I drive past?

I headed south in my tow wagon today to locate a few caches.

These are like those medicine balls like I used in Phys Ed at school mainy years ago.

Cheers for the cache.

Driving home to Christchurch today with injeanious and we saw this cache and it was low tide so we had to stop. We clambered down to the beach and had a great time exploring the rock pools and mini boulders. Thanks for bringing us here!

What a cool stop. We carefully made our way down to the rocks and explored the beach. So many awesome concretions to be seen. The rock pools are quite cool too. A definite favourite for me. Tftv.

The tides looked promising! At last they align with our travel plans! Years ago we had been to these Katiki boulders with the Kiwi Conservation Club, and went down a track through the trees. So we checked that route first, still used but steep and cracking away at the bottom. No - back to the easy track down by the road sign. And there is indeed a cute wee boulder partly emerged - GPS for scale - and others in the surf. A scenic spot - lovely to be here. Mr D scored an orange buoy which may or may not come in useful. Congratulations on an inspired virtual location.

We were lucky that the tide was out and the Moeraki minis were even more spectacular than the boulders. We didn't go down on the beach but got some lovely photos of them. Thanks for bringing us here.

Great place to visit. Fun scramble down to the beach and really interesting to steer the rocks too.

I will need to plan my trips better! on the way south I was too late, on the way north, too early...

Damn! I turned up and the tide was well-in. On a tight time schedule so couldn't hang around

Heaven knows when I might get here again (it's been over 10 years since I was last here) but if I ever get the chance to visit again...

Wow. One of the best of all time. I like these much more than the big ones. Thanks for finding this.

I Didn't get to gz as rocks too slippery but I got within 10m so hopefully that is ok.

Pengi loved the ones poking out of the cliff.

Down in Oamaru for the long weekend, so drawp suggested this was worth a look. Had a great time wandering around the boulders - almost better than Moeraki. Decided that we would post a "double yoker", although did come up with other possible names! TFTC and gets a fav from us.

It's been an awesome long weekend in Oamaru, visiting friends and extended family after lockdown.
Couldn't have timed this any worse if we tried... drove past as at 10.47am, high tide was 10.58am.
Maybe next time...

I found this absolutely fascinating and I almost missed it. I hadn't noted this on the map as it is almost obscured by a yellow smilie but it popped up on the GPS as I was approaching and beyond all belief the tide was out - it was my lucky day! I was amazed at all the mini boulders as I looked over the cliff - quite a spectacular sight! Found the path and carefully made my way to GZ. So many interesting things to see. On the way back I met drawp et al on their way down. Thanks so much for highlighting these - it was a wonderful experience. So of course its an instant favourite. TFTEC # 15,441

What a great location even in the rain. past here many times but was unaware of the treasures on the beach. Thanks for bringing me here. TFTC

Heading home from dunnas, perfect excuse to grab a few.
Made sure we timed this one right as we headed north very cool spot gets a fav

Myself and BCD spent the weekend in Dunedin to attend an event and finally fill Mike's DT grid. We achieved most of our goals for the weekend and planned our trip home to coincide with the tides that would enable us to be able to log this cache another goal achieved .... was a perfecy day and a perfect tide so the picture proves our achievement. I had no idea there were so so many of these boulders and thank you for bringing us here to marvel at the sight we saw TFTVC a favourite for the experience

The way is nice . The Boulders looking great. TftC

Climbing is not my speciality, but it was possible.

TFTC

I started my great and unique round trip over the South Island in Christchurch.
My first major stopover was at Lake Tapeko - here I hiked up to Observation Mountain.
I then planned two days in Mount Cook NP with some unforgettable hikes. My big goal was the Mueller Hut - on a super strenuous hike I reached it.
I continued my journey over the lonely Danseys Pass to Dunedin.
Afterwards I drove along the Southern Scienic Route via Invercargill to Manapouri for some days. On this route I visited many sights and enjoyed the beautiful nature again and again.
I already booked a tour to the Doubtful Sound in advance - another highlight on my tour.
Afterwards I drove on to Queensown and Wanaka. From there I continued over the Haast Pass to the lonely Jackson Bay with storm and heavy rain. Afterwards I drove along the west coast always in pouring rain.
The rain stopped the whole west coast, but I had good rainwear with me. Only high up in Nelson the sun shone again.
Soon I reached the east coast again in Picton and Blenheim and the sun was shining again.
After a few days I travelled back to Christchurch via the beautiful town of Kaikoura.
At the end of my round trip I spent a few more days in Christchurch and its surroundings.
I visited many geological sites and found many caches on my round trip. In Rangiora I visited an event.
I travelled 3418 km and take home a lot of positive experiences.
Thanks to many beautiful caches I was also shown unique locations, historical sites and geological features.
I am overwhelmed by the fantastic and ever changing nature on the South Island of New Zealand - I will definitely come back.

Many thanks to all owners
Team sissifalke

A very low tide this morning and the sea was really flat. a great wander along the sand. Not so quick over the rocks as some were pretty slippery!. Amazing rock formations in places, hats off to Mother Nature.
Got to G.Z and it was interesting to see the boulders in the cliff, must be pressure that fprms them, they are so different to the rock they are formed in.
Thanks for the close up,
erminz

Discovered this new virtual during a cache raid of the Mainland. Lucky for us it was low tide at the time of our visit. It took a little while to find the safe track down, perhaps checking for waypoints earlier would have helped! Great cache, thanks for sharing. ROS went down and took the required photo and MAR took a photo of ROS taking the selfie! TFTC.

Great wee trip down to the beach, have not been to this part for a long time.

Many Thanks Bitsprayer

(FTF) # 192 @ 2157. This had been sitting for a few days and as it was out of town I'm picking that was the reason it had not been visited by now. So decided to go for a drive as it was a nice warm night and the tides were about right. Got to the GZ with KJR and found our way down to the beach and keeping all eyes out for any seals we made our way along the to GZ. Did some rock hopping and and found the mini boulders go a couple of pics but as it was quite dark by now we couldn't see much else so we headed back to the car. Some more hopping and KJR ended up in the water and with it being so dark it was very easy to hide the fact I was laughing ?? my head off at her. She was not happy about the wet legs but it's part of the fun. Got back to the car without any more problems and off back to town. TFTC

(FTF) #65 @ 2157 with Gadget169
Spur of the moment decision to go for a wee drive after seeing this still hadn't been logged.
A lovely warm evening and 20° when we left town at about 2045 with plenty of time til low tide at 2201.
Parked above GZ and definitely no way getting down from there so walked about 20m back and found a track down. Made our way along the beach past the cave without getting wet feet. Got the required photo plus a few more. Was really cool seeing the mini boulders as well as big hollows now filled with water and seashells where boulders once lay. Started to make our way back and sure enough I managed to slip in arock pool and got wet up to my knees!!!
A very fun geocaching adventure and my first virtual FTF TFTC hill55

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