Bold sightseers graffiti new beach boulders

Sightseers leaving their mark on Marlborough’s new beach boulders have been branded ‘‘disrespectful’’.

The boulders at Ward Beach, south of Blenheim, were thrust from the ocean by seabed lift during the November 2016 earthquake and were tipped to become Marlborough’s very own ‘‘Moeraki boulders’’, a popular tourist attraction north of Dunedin.

But some quake-curious visitors have taken to the new spheres with what looks like a permanent marker to scribble names and dates.

Department of Conservation ranger Chris Wootton said he was disappointed to find the boulders had been damaged so quickly after they appeared.

‘‘It’s a pity to see this type of graffiti in a special area such as Ward Beach, but difficult to control in a remote environment such as this.’’

He suspected media interest in the new boulders had prompted more people to visit ‘‘and people are now in the habit of adding their own graffiti, which needs to be discouraged’’.

‘‘In this case it’s difficult to consider a practical solution other than to encourage people to treat the area with respect.’’

Wootton was unsure who would end up trying to remove the graffiti.

‘‘The uplift area along the coastline is a fuzzy area. It is Crown land … but until new areas are surveyed by Land Information New Zealand these areas don’t come under the Department of Conservation’s jurisdiction.’’

Spherical boulders were also discovered at Gooch’s Beach in Kaiko¯ ura after the earthquake.

‘‘The coastal uplift caused by the Kaiko¯ ura earthquake has resulted in significant changes to a very wide part of the coastline,’’ Wootton said.