Mysterious boulders and time travel in Oamaru, New Zealand

Our final stretch of driving through Otago before reaching Christchurch! Rob and I left Dunedin early in the morning and set off north along the coast. We stopped along the beach to see the Moeraki Boulders.

These round rock spheres are 60 million year old formations from the bottom of the ocean. Almost pearl-like, they snowballed from smaller sediment into these massive geodes. Buried into the shore, they’re slowly rolling back into the sea.

Next stop, Oamaru. We stretched out legs in this picturesque seaside town – home to a blue penguin colony, seals and…

…the world headquarters of steampunk! “Steampunk” is a type of sci-fi that involves time travel and space travel in the framework of 19th century steam-engine design. Oamaru is a pretty perfect spot for it.

Inside, there are all kinds of welded art pieces, video installations and a working steampunk organ…but the time travel machine was really the coolest of them all. You step out on to a platform suspended in “space” while a custom musical score and LED light show completely surrounds you.

I could have stayed in there for hours…I could have MOVED in there. It was so peaceful and soothing. We went through the 2-minute cycle twice.

Quick bakery lunch in a local cafe (they love these fanciful concoctions of vegetables and seeds here) before hitting the road. We were expected to arrive in Christchurch at 2:00. However, a flat tire in Timaru delayed us a few hours and then we hit tractor rush-hour traffic on our way into town.