mmmmmm . . . pancakes
Today was a fine day. The rain from yesterday cleared and the sun was out for most of the day. We followed the west coast north, to Punikaki (my spellings of NZ town are terrible and I’m too lazy to look them up, please forgive me), where the famous pancake rocks and blowholes are. We headed up there primarily for a different hike, though, one that followed in the Inland Pack Track up a river to a couple of caves.
The drive up to Punikaki was fantastic. The road followed the coast and wound through mountains and crossed tons of streams and creeks. The coast is jagged and full of bays and peninsulas and the views were incredible. In Punikaki, the pancake rocks and the blowholes were the main touristy things, but they were some of the coolest touristy things we’ve seen so far and they weren’t even at their best. The blowholes are supposed to be best at high tide, and we were about 2 hours early. The pancake rocks are layers of limestone laid down on top of each other so the rocks look like stacks of pancakes. Creative, eh?
The caves were excellent as well. We hiked about an hour and a half through the rainforest, crossing a couple streams and walking through an area that had obviously been flooded in the last couple of days. There was a deep layer of sand across the trail and long leaves were wrapped around the bottoms of tree trunks, pushed there by running water. At the caves, only one of the two was safe to go in, but you could follow it about 200 meters back into the side of a cliff. There were all sorts of formations on the walls, floors and ceilings. It wasn’t like some of the tourist caves back in the states, but then again, there weren’t crowds of people or lighting or guides. We shut off our headlamps and stood there in the blackness for a minute or so, listening to the water dripping around us and seeing absolutely nothing. It was creepy.
It looks like we’re still on for Avalanche Peak tomorrow. We’re in Arthur’s Pass, and the weather looks good. We’ve got our lunch all packed and we’re about to head for bed so we can get an early start. We’ve got tomorrow, and then we fly out the next day and we’ve still got a lot to do, like find a place to stay that first night in Sydney. It will all work out. It always does.
Tags: New Zealand, Travel
awrichner
It sounds like you’re having an absolutely fabulous time. I like reading about your adventures and pretending I’m along with you guys….Sounds like the scenery is plenty gorgeous…let’s see some more pictures when you have a minute or two!
more pics in about a week or so, at worst. I’ll have everything from NZ up on flickr once we’re in Malaysia and I can use a computer that isn’t in a damn internet cafe. I’m putting them on a CD today, so maybe they’ll be up sooner.