Waitaki is home to the first UNESCO Global Geopark in New Zealand, abundant with unique geological and geomorphological features including the Moeraki Boulders, Elephant Rocks, limestone quarries, and Clay Cliffs.
Formed under an ancient sea and built on the remnants of a vanished world, today you can see these prehistoric remains among the limestone that forms much of the region.
Situated on the east coast of the South Island and straddling the 45th parallel South, Waitaki is bounded by mountains and sea. Gondwana land upturned by fire and ice became a home first for Māori iwi, then colonial settlement in the 1800s. The braided Waitaki River, ‘water of tears’, was an important ara tawhito (traditional travel route) for Māori, providing direct access to inland Te Waipounamu (South Island). Many Māori gathered weka and eels, settling seasonally as they followed Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar).
While the Waitaki River flows from the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, it is only one part of the UNESCO Whitestone Geopark. The whole area spans over 7,200 km2. At the heart of it all are spectacular areas of karst. Karst landscapes are underlain by limestone which has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes and other characteristic landforms that make striking scenery everywhere you go.
The karst landscape and its ‘whitestone’ are integral to the identity of Waitaki. The first people in the area found shelter in limestone caves, decorating its walls with rock art. Waitaki’s largest town, Ōamaru, is also renowned for fine limestone and Victorian architecture.
Today, the Vanished World Centre celebrates the wondrous fossils that emerge from the region’s whitestone, with skeletons of prehistoric creatures still to be found.
