From Franz Josef village it was another beautiful and scenic drive towards Punakaiki where we were to spend the night. On the way, Hokitika turned out to be even less charming than I remembered, Mr A considered the entry fee at Shantytown Heritage Park too high to simply have a look around and then we were already at Greymouth where we stocked up on groceries before continuing to our final destination for the day.
Arriving ahead of schedule we stopped at Pancake Rocks to have a first look around. Needless to say, Mr A loved the combination of unique geological formations with the brutal waters below topped of with soft afternoon light and so did I. It’s not quite clear how they formed but anyway, they look spectacular.
We were lucky as the tide was high and the blowholes blew and sputtered as if there was no tomorrow.
After completing the loop we found our hostel (somewhere, nestled between nikau palms) and settled in for the night – once more all by ourselves. We immediately fell for the building we were housed in and agreed that if we ever built a house (or – let’s be realistic – had one built for us), this is how we would want it to look like – plus a basement, proper insulation, double-glazed windows and central heating.
The next morning we drove to Pancake Rocks once more and took in the dreamy and slightly eerie views of the morning mist just rising and the sun coming through.
Then we headed up towards Motueka by way of Cape Foulwind/ Westport and the resident seal colony.
