Pancakes and waves

After a few days touring the west coast of NZ I arrived at Punakaiki.

And decided to stay a while.

There's no mobile phone coverage, the roaring surf lulls me to sleep each night and the sunsets are pretty, if not quite as stunning as those back home.

The road between Greymouth and Westport hugs the coastline. Endless lines of swell crash perfect waves into cute little coves, and every few kilometres there are huge rockstacks emerging just offshore, home to seabirds, seals and blue penguins.

The beaches are comprised mostly of pebbles, with piles of driftwood marking the height of the tides. Hunting for greenstone / pounamu amongst the pebbles is a bit of fun, though most of the locals are busy fishing for whitebait instead.

The main attraction at Punakaiki is the Pancake Rocks and blow hole, which is well worth a visit. A visit at high tide is necessary to see the full effect of the ocean.

Further north, at Westport, is Cape Foulwind and Tauranga Bay Seal Colony, a pleasant walk along the top of cliffs between the lighthouse and the bay. Binoculars are set up so you can watch the seals playing in a sea pool on the offshore island.

Paparoa National Park also has some nice walks up rivers and through gorges. Over a few days I made some forays into these areas.

Much of the inland route has been closed due to a massive storm that ripped huge ancient trees out of the ground and blocked the track. The part that has been reopened took six men 2 months to chainsaw their way through the 6km trail. It feels more like a forestry site than a lush temperate rainforest.

There's been quite a bit of tragedy on this section of the track, as 20 years ago a platform over a cave collapsed, killing 12 students who were on it at the time. Cave Creek is an otherwise peaceful place, but it's hard to forget so many people lost their lives here. The platform hasn't been rebuilt.

Of course the reason for all this west coast lushness is a very high annual rainfall. Lucky for me I had a week and a half of glorious, mostly sunny weather, and very few pesky sandflies to deal with. It made leaving very difficult, but it looked like the weather was changing anyway, and I had a flight to catch back in Christchurch, so over the Arthurs Pass I went.

After 10 days on the coast it was strange to head through an alpine environment again. I had planned to visit some club fields this trip, but in the end I ran out of friends free to join me. I'm glad I went to the west coast instead: as much as I love skiing I am definitely a salt water person.

Christchurch went by in a whirl. I caught up with Yuri and we did a mutually beneficial currency deal, so I'm all cashed up with Yen for my trip to Japan next year, and she has a bunch of consumables for her new business coming from Australia. I stayed with my mate Sonja and her husband Chris, who have kindly agreed to store a pair of my skis and a few other bits and pieces in their garage until I return next year.

Yes, the ski goddess will be doing a lot more skiing again next year!!

Now off to Sydney!

Cool times

Hokitika markets itself as "a cool little town". Personally, I couldn't quite see it. Sure there were some quirky second hand stores and a few bright painted buildings but the overwhelming impression for me was crass commercialism in the guise of multiple jade/pounamu galleries and other crafty stores. Painted rocks anyone?

The beach, however, was pretty cool, with lots of driftwood washed up. My second evening there I took the opportunity to take some sunset pictures, then tweak them in Lightroom to get some oh so nice colours.

South of town is Hokitika Gorge, which has awesome turquoise water, white limestone rocks, and obligatory suspension bridge over it.

There's also a couple of pretty lakes with walks in the forest around them, the option to go kayaking, and a nice waterfall.

My favourite walk was a walk down to a beach a bit south of Hokitika, through remnant coastal rainforest. I'm loving the lush greenery everywhere, sometimes it even looks like topiary!

Two nights was enough time in the "cool little town" before heading further north. I headed inland a little to check out some old mining tunnels near Goldsworthy, then met up with the Arthur's Pass Highway to see a remnant glacial boulder called Londonderry Rock. I mean it's just a rock folks, not exactly a tourist attraction…

Back down on the coast road I headed straight through Greymouth, stopping for lunch at a small estuary at the northern end of the Point Elizabeth walk. I decided against taking the walk, but instead headed on to Punakaiki, where I plan to stay a few days.

The Coastal Road from Greymouth to Westport is spectacular, with numerous rockstacks emerging from the churning Tasman Sea. There's some pretty mean surf coming in, and on the other side of the road is rainforest covered karst country. And you know how much I love karst!

Later in the afternoon I walked the Truman Track, another short walk through coastal rainforest to the beach, in this case a sandstone cove in which you can see blue penguins. The tide was coming in so we couldn't walk along the beach, and we didn't see any penguins. Nevermind, I shall return.

I've decided to stay at Punakaiki a few more days, as the hostel I'm staying at is right on the beach and reminds me of home. It's quiet but for the crashing waves, and the vibe is relaxed. There's lots of walks into Paparoa National Park, as well as the Pancake Rocks, plus some nice beach walks, so I doubt I'm going to be bored.

There's even more sunny days forecast.

Bonus!!