Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Punakaki--West Coast



Heading up the coast, we made it to Punakaki—home of the famous pancake rocks and blowholes (yes, blowholes).  The rocks were formed by the ocean and—yes, they look like stacked pancakes.  The blowholes are the areas carved out of the middle where the ocean rushes in and shoots up—yes, like a whale’s blowhole?!   People in these parts get excited about funny things.  We checked out a couple of small towns along the way and stopped up near a seal colony.  We stumbled upon a trail to the beach from the roadside.  Jumping onto the trail, we made our way through the forest to this amazing pebbled beach next by the mountains.  The sea and winds carved out giant rocks to form works of art adrift on the beach.  We explored, our feet felt it against the rocks and then the bugs struck…the sand flies!  Abort, abort, abort the beach!  Back to the campervan we fled—all bitten up and needing respite from the bites.


Our pre-dinner snack along the west coast...tomatoes, cheese and cheesy bread


Shelley getting to know one of the locals.  She's getting brave


A view on our hike through the pancake rocks


Another cool pic of the pancake rocks that no one is sure how they were formed


Taking it in after our climb


Relaxing by the blowholes

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