The Moeraki Boulders

Massive stone boulders sit on a beach looking like eggs from a monster sized sea turtle.

Really big egg rocks


The view from above


These Moeraki Boulders are on the beach near the small village of Moeraki, half an hour south of Oamaru. The coastline stretches on in either direction with these boulders amassed in one stringy clump almost in the middle of the curved shoreline. These guys can be anywhere from a foot in diameter to about 6 feet wide. The boulders are formed inside of the cliffs and as the cliffs erode away these massive boulders pop out and land on the beach below.


A freshly hatched boulder.


As time goes by, with wind and waves and sun all working on these boulders, they split into chunks and break down.

The bottom of the egg, hard boiled I should think.


Boulders - shoulder to shoulder


Lone Boulder facing the Sea

Rainbow Opera

The Oamaru Opera house.
Because opera should be in Technicolor.
In purple

In blue

So I went to the grocery shop...

Last Sunday I went to the grocery shop to get things for dinner and got out the car and closed the door and started to walk into the store.

I couldn’t get very far, and thinking my coat was stuck in the car door, I turned around to open the door and get on my way.

Much to my surprise it wasn’t my coat, but my little left thumb stuck firmly in the door.


My thumb day on the day of doom


The day after doom (and pretty much what it looks like now)

And the guns, they went boom...

During WWII New Zealand was guarded against invasion by a number of guns along the coast lines. Oamaru has the remnants of some of the old gun bunkers in a lovely park over looking the harbor. Since my Dad said I had to go see them (thanks Dad!) I went, and had a wonderful hike around the hills. There are more bunkers and gunports, but these were the best ones, I think.

Ye Olde Gun Port(e)

Yon olde bunker


Ye lovely view from the Gun Port(e)

They walk slow because they only have little legs

A sign here in Oamaru, home of two penguin colonies...

Beautiful...as it should be

It always seems that God is present where there is beauty. He seems to be most at home, or perhaps more evident, in the fresh air and rolling waves, in the bobbing heads of long grass, in the kindness of helping hands, in the stunning views from, and of, a tall mountain. God is beauty and lives in beauty. Being here in New Zealand is a eye popping glimpse into rugged, pristine beauty.

Being on a team who will be presenting God to people who may not believe in Him will be a challenge, and I cannot wait to see that ways that Beauty reveals Himself.

We will be meeting in one of the most lovely buildings here in Oamaru - The Opera House. Built out of Oamaru stone and recently restored, this is going too a fitting place to share God, His grace and the plan of salvation with a world yearning for more.

Signs are everywhere

I was today reminded that no matter where you are, you are always far from somewhere!

New Zealand has begun winter. It is cold and wet here in Oamaru, but the bright yellow signs made me smile.
(The note that the South Pole was so close was a bit scary)

No matter where I am, in Oamaru or Texas or Italy, I will always be too far from where I want to be! I always want to be with those I love and with God, and that place isn't even listed on this sign.

Onward to Heaven!