The Moa

In 1994 the publican and two of his staff at the Bealey Hotel went tramping in the Avoca Valley some miles south of the Hotel. while he was away he took a photo graph of what he believed was a giant moa (extinct some 300 years ago ).

The photo turned out somewhat less than clear. The experts at DOC and elsewhere declared the photo to be of the rear end of a red deer !.

Well to keep the story alive the locals made a life size replica from concrete and placed it near the hotel .

So on your way to Arthur's Pass stop at the Bealey hotel for a feed and a drink and marvel at the extinct "moa"