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Published: March 31st 2009
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Punakaiki is sited at the mouth of the Punakaiki River, 40 km north of Greymouth, on the West Coast. This small settlement is well set up for visitors with an information centre, tearooms, tavern, motels, lodges and a motor camp.
The Dolomite Point lookout above the famous pancake rocks, is a short walk from the road on a paved loop track. You will hear the booming surf long before you set eyes on the slender towers that have been weathered to resemble a huge stack of pancakes.
These strange formations are caused by a chemical process. Long ago layers of lime-rich mud were deposited on the seabed and then overlayed by weaker sheets of soft mud and clay. The seabed was tilted and raised to form coastal cliffs, and wind and water have etched out the soft layers to produce the stark relief of stratified formations. The blowholes are the result of massive undermining of these weird structures by wave action. High seas surge into caverns, causing enough pressure to propel impressive geysers of spume and spray up through clefts in the rock.
Punakaiki has many other outdoor attractions, mainly within the unspoiled Paparoa National Park. The most
popular walks are the Inland Pack Track, the Pororari Rivers Loop, and the Croesus Track. Cave enthusiasts will love the Punakaiki Cavern Track which leads to a fascinating glow worm grotto.
Wander down to the nearby beaches and wave-sculpted rock platforms towards dusk, and you are certain to see Westland black petrels scuffing through the bushes. This is the only breeding colony of these large burrow-nesting birds in the world. Like their relative the albatross, they can soar effortlessly in flight but look so ungainly on land. To get a closer look at local marine life you can take a boat trip out to Seal Island.
For sheer diversity in ecology and landforms, Punakaiki has to be one of the most interesting and intriguing places you can visit in New Zealand
How cool to carve your own Bone Pendant The next morning the group and myself decided to go to “Bone Idle” and have a go at bone carving. First you select a stencil of the carving you want made or make up your own design. Keeping with my Twist theme that l had seen in a shop the week before and wanting something
that was of New Zealand origin. The twist with its crisscross form represents the many paths of life and love and as such is regarded as the original eternity symbol. The single twist in particular shows the joining together of two people for eternity. Even though they sometimes move away from each other on their own journeys, they will always come together again sharing their lives and blending to become one. It tells how the strength of bond of friendship, loyalty and love will last forever. The double and triple twists have a similar meaning but refer more to the joining of two peoples or cultures rather than individuals. They also refer to the three baskets of knowledge.
You then get given a cow bone and you have to draw your design from the stencil. The owner then cuts the bone down a bit and they show you how to start creating the shape on a sanding machine and then it’s over to you. You then move to another machine to add the detail. then it’s time to move on to rounding off the edges. They put the hole for the cord and then it’s time for you to
sand and sand and sand. They then run it over the polishing machine. Sounds easy enough but with 4 different types of sand paper, and a disgusting smell of bone it takes about 3 hours. It does look good though and I’ve had quite a few comments. We all chose a different design so in some way they do feel like we have an individual pendant that means something to us.
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