Blogs from Punakaiki, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

Christmas! The idea was that the coastal towns of Greymouth and (the nearby) Punakaiki would be the perfect place to relax while we celebrated Christmas. And stay, relatively, in one place. After getting ready, we headed up the coast about an hour to Punakaiki. Punakaiki is mostly known for its pancake rocks and blowholes. Its coast, in general, is beautiful, as well. To get to the pancake rocks (see photos to see where they get their name), we had a wonderful hike through some low-lying vegetation to get to Dolomite Point (location of pancake rocks and the blowholes). We spent quite a bit of time watching for water shooting out of the blowholes (didn't see much) and the waves come crashing in underneath us (the walkway goes over arched rock where the water flows under) and ... read more

Back in the car "Sunny" we set out over the Haast pass. This pass "discovered" by European Haast in the 19th century is reknowned to be a beautiful drive through the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The road wound past Lake Hawea and Wanaka into the mountains. We quickly realized our drive would introduce us to an evil we have heard much about on our journey around the South Island - sandflies. These tiny black insects bite indiscriminately and are intellegent enough to scale car windows closed but for a small crack and invade in search of blood. We have found it often takes more than one hit to kill them (to which our rent a car roof can attest) and they will bite you numerous times that itch for weeks and result in lumps. Despite ... read more

SAT - hot and sunny today so off to the beach i go! niiice lying in the sun, reading and listening to music, and thats all i did, that's worth mentioning anyway :) SUN - mmm beach again today, i have recieved a good dose of vitamin D this weekend :) team: sam, me, kate, karl, sophie, lukas, bracht 18 belgium, ray belfast, karl and sun both korea. MON - was Daves birthday today (he is setting up south island project) so we had a late start, nice lie in, and an early finish :) we went to a seal colony near westport after work (cutting down gorse to reveal a pond that was completely hidden before) then into westport where we sneakily bought him birthday cake :) twas a nice surprise for him when he ... read more

I dag har vi siddet 6 timer i autocamperen. Det har været en rigtig lang og kedelig dag. Vi skulle køre 298 km til Franz Josef gletcheren. På vejen stoppede vi ved Pancake Rocks, der er nogle klipper, der ligner en kæmpe stak pandekager. I klipperne er der nogle huller, hvor vandet indimellem presses op, så det sprøjter som en gejser. Der var ikke højvande, da vi var der, så vandet sprøjtede ikke så højt. Der var en fin rundtur, som tog ca. 20 min. at gå. De er gode til at skilte deres gåture hernede, både hvor de starter, hvor lange de er, og hvor lang tid det tager at gå. Man kan ikke bare regne med almindelige gåtider, da det næsten altid går op og ned. Vi så et nyt vejskilt i dag; et ... read more

Had a quick stop over on our way to catch the ferry to the north island at these limestone pancake formations. We've not seen anything like these before and thought they were pretty cool. Naturally formed through hard/ soft layering formations of limestone. The sea has worn away a lot of the soft layers, creating the jagged structures as well as blow holes which look impressive when the sea lashes in and is forced upwards and outwards in a water cascade. The thing with NZ is everywhere you turn there is beautiful landscape and driving in the campervan gives you the chance to pull up, take it in and have a cuppa whilst you're doing it, "rock & roll". ... read more