Punakaiki 21-23/1

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On our way to Punakaiki we stopped off at Cape Fowlwind. This is a walk that goes past a seal colony. The walk was really nice as at runs along the clifftops towards the seal colony. The seals were really good but were a bit too far away to get a decent picture. We also stopped off at Irimahuwhero viewpoint which gave us a really nice view of the coast. We arrived at our hostel in Punakaiki at around lunch time so we decided to go on quite a long walk called the Pororari river track. This was one of the best walks we have done. It starts going along the river with cliffs either side and then goes through some rainforest, and ends at another part of the river with cliffs either side again. It also involved us wading across the river which was fun. On the way back it passed the pancake rocks (so called because they are formed in layers and look like stacks of pancakes) so we went for a quick look round. Later that night we went for a pub meal as there aren't any supermarkets in Punakaiki, and then went for another walk to the pancake rocks as we were told they were better at this time of day. When we went this time we saw the blow holes working which was quite cool.

The next day we went to Barrytown Knife Making. Here we made a knife. It was really fun and the knife turned out a lot better than either of us expected. We also got to try axe throwing, star throwing, and got to have a go on a really big swing. Once the knifes were finished we all sat down for a glass of “barrypagne”, which the guy told us is just cheap white wine put through a soda stream, it works really well as it tastes good. We then went for another pub meal and then for pancakes at the cafe near the pancake rocks. After this we did the Truman walk which is just a small walk to a really nice little beach.

Punakaiki was really good as it is one of the most beautiful places we have been to and our hostel was located right on the beach.

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Photos

irimahuwhero viewpoint
our bus

Comments

[Gareth]

Kia Ora
Hola, Looks like your having some brilliant times and seeing some amazing places. Missing the great british winter weather though i bet. Enjoy the rest of New Zealand.

[Mike P]

Looks awesome. Hope you're both still enjoying the trip :)