I love Pancakes

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I decided to stop over for a night at Punakaiki to split the journey from Nelson to Franz Josef. Punakaiki is in the Paparoa National Park and has some famous pancake rocks and blowholes. These are formations of thinly bedded limestone that has been carved over the years by the sea into interesting shapes.

I soon realised that the west coast is very wet and windy, a complete change from sunny Abel Tasman. When I arrived in the rain fortunately the owner of the hostel was there to give me a lift. So after getting sorted in the hostel I headed to the Pancake Rocks. They are a pleasant attraction and quite genteel. The blowholes were not really blowing even though it was high tide, perhaps the westerly wind was not strong enough. All the same it was quite nice wandering around. I bumped into one of the German couples from Queen Charlotte sound and Abel Tasman too! they are following me around.

I also stopped at Punakaiki cavern on the way back but could not investigate it fully due to the lack of a torch, but it was a good cave and I rate it quite highly. Walking in the other direction passed the hostel I got to the Truman Track that leads down to a nice bay with weathered sandstone cliffs and caves and dramatic waves. I tried looking for Little Blue Penguins which nest in the area but are quite elusive, coming back to shore from their day's fishing at dusk.

Spent the evening in the Punakaiki Tavern next door in the company of Violetta and Simone, a couple of German girls travalling NZ.

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