It’s so strange, moms, I don’t know what “force” has made the stone have such a “unique” shape.

Abel Tasman National Park is an area of stunning scenic beauty covering most of the end of New Zealand’s South Island and is an often overlooked tourist destination.

Among the many beautiful landscapes, this park includes Tonga Island and Split Apple Stone, so named because it looks like an apple has been split in two.

Just an hour’s drive from the area’s main town, Nelson, you can explore the park in many ways. By boat, water taxi, kayak or hiking. Nearby Kaiteriteri is a great place to start exploring the area’s wonders, such as Abel Tasman National Park and Apple’s Split Stone.

Geologists say the rock may have cracked during one of the ice ages. At that time, glaciation covered most of New Zealand. The rock is slightly cracked, allowing water to seep through the crack in the rock. As the ice age continued and temperatures dropped, water froze and expanded, causing the ice to split like an apple. However, there is still no official explanation for this mysterious stone.

Legend has it that Zeus’s sword split the rock like an apple while fighting the sea god Neptune for the hand of Dione. Zeus won that battle and took Dione’s hand. Therefore, the rock is also called Tokangawhā, which means ‘Rock Blast’. How the rock arrived in New Zealand remains a mystery.

However, some people prefer the second story, which is the legend of the Maori (indigenous people of New Zealand): This story says that two gods fought on the rock and decided to split it in half to end the war.

It is a spherical block of granite, the diameter of the rock is about 5.5 m and the mass is about 242 tons. Its location is about 50 meters from the coast. Below, there are granite rocks of various shapes to support two pieces of rock, which look like a small island.

Some people suspect that the stones below are not natural. They suggested that someone could have built more to hold and support the stone The Stone of the Split Apple.

On the beach there are many viewpoints to watch the sunrise through the crack in the rock. Ancient astronomers used this method to determine the dates of the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox, and winter solstice, and to maintain calendar accuracy. The researchers also discovered many rocks carved diagonally on the coast, which act as landmarks marking the location of sun observations.