GeoPark - Sasha – Moeraki Boulders January 2020

Real Radio: For the first time in 2020, joined by the GeoPark Educator Sasha Morriss. Now, what are we talking about today, Sasha?

Geoeducator: Yes, happy new year, everybody. Today, I am going to be talking about Moeraki Boulders. I'd be interested to actually hear who made a trip down there. We'd like to see your photos.  Send them in to us to on instagram or our Facebook. And we'd like to have a look and we can put them up there on our page.

Real Radio: They're pretty unique. The boulders, aren't they?

Geoeducator: Yes, they are. And we're a bit disappointed, actually, to discover last year that there was a bit of vandalism happening down there.  There is a new boulder that's emerging out of the cliff. And people have kind of inscribed things into it. And so last year, there was a group of us that went down from the GeoPark down to Moeraki to have a wee look at it. We met up with some people from Vanished World, the local Runanga, and also DOC. And we have we look around the boulders, in particular, the boulder that's been defaced and also the DOC site down there, which is called Te Kaihinaki. Not a lot of people may know about that. It's a separate area that you can actually park at at Moeraki Boulders and then you can actually take a really nice walk along the beach to the actual boulders themselves. It takes about 10 minutes and as it's a lovely walk and you get to look back across the bay at Moeraki township itself. Now, when we were there, we were just discussing the vandalism of this particular boulder that's happened in the past to some of the other boulders as well. And what we can do to encourage people to be a bit more mindful of visiting this site in particular.  The boulders have got specific importance to the the Runaka, which is detailed down there if you're at Moeraki. There's a big display board up here about the importance of the site. But the Moeraki Boulders also have an importance in their own right. And we have an interest to protect them through the GeoPark.  They have a protection on them, which is a Scenic Reserve Moeraki Boulders Scenic Reserve protection. And it's been classified as an outstanding natural feature with scientific reserve importance. It's also been classified as an international scientific important site.  So there's a number of protections on the site. And DOC has been out (you might have seen on our Facebook we put a post up there on the 23rd of December), DOC'S installed some signs about how the boulders are protected also under the Resource Act of 1977. And if there's intentional breach of that protection, there are actually infringement things that DOC can enforce, such as huge fines. So people need to be really mindful when they are out visiting that, that they are not defacing them, that we can protect them for their cultural in their intrinsic value. And they're going to be here for many generations to come.

Real Radio: That's cool. Thank you very much, Sasha. We'll catch up again soon.

Geoeducator: I look forward to it.  Thanks Dan.