A giant alien-like object covered in barnacles that washed up on a New Zealand beach has locals baffled. Five kilometers down the shore from Muriwai Beach in the Auckland area, Melissa Doubleday came upon the bizarre image.
She posted the photo on the Muriwai & Waimauku Area Community Group, asking: “Just curious to know if anyone knows what this is??! Washed up on Muriwai Beach.”
Suggestions included a Maori canoe, a monster from the 1980s television series Under the Mountain, a shipwreck, artwork, a Caribbean walrus, a Rastafarian whale or an alien time capsule.
In reality it was most likely a large piece of driftwood covered in what appeared to be gooseneck barnacles.
“I actually thought it was a washed up whale as I approached it, so weird,” Ms Doubleday said.
The strange thing brought to mind memories from New Zealand beaches, where a 7.8 magnitude earthquake caused the seabed to rise two meters and explode through the sand.
Once submerged, the rocks – covered in barnacles, limpets and seaweed – were pushed up above the surface. As a result of the sudden uplift, sea life including lobster and abalone, were stranded out of water.
