I find myself on the West Coast again.
A short hop north and we arrived at the Punakaiki pancake rocks and blowholes. This little park gets short shrift in the write-ups it receives but J and I found the coastline drive and the walking tour enthralling. The mountains plunge to the ocean dramatically, no mamby pamby gradual grade. The views are hazy with mist and expansive. Lazy gray blues, foamy churning greens, and glistening slates of the black sand beaches. It's cloudy bright and sunny bright alternately, like most of the spring days in NZ have been for us.
The park trail winds through dwarfing flax plants with bayonet-sharp leaves, root-stacked/vine-draped trees that if they catch you unawares will lasso you in their grasp (anthropomorphizing the veg again) and less hungry-looking trees, or Dr. Seuss trees so dubbed by J. J tells me that the coast is home to stretches of rainforest. Makes sense -- the mountainous barrier traps the moisture on the west side of the range and spurns a green tussle for veg domination.
J feeling rainforest trollishA short hop north and we arrived at the Punakaiki pancake rocks and blowholes. This little park gets short shrift in the write-ups it receives but J and I found the coastline drive and the walking tour enthralling. The mountains plunge to the ocean dramatically, no mamby pamby gradual grade. The views are hazy with mist and expansive. Lazy gray blues, foamy churning greens, and glistening slates of the black sand beaches. It's cloudy bright and sunny bright alternately, like most of the spring days in NZ have been for us.
The park trail winds through dwarfing flax plants with bayonet-sharp leaves, root-stacked/vine-draped trees that if they catch you unawares will lasso you in their grasp (anthropomorphizing the veg again) and less hungry-looking trees, or Dr. Seuss trees so dubbed by J. J tells me that the coast is home to stretches of rainforest. Makes sense -- the mountainous barrier traps the moisture on the west side of the range and spurns a green tussle for veg domination.The trail opens up to the ocean to reveal the layered limestone bluffs and surge chambers that at high tide become impressive towers of water when the waves break. High tide was roughly 5 pm on the day of our visit so no enormous blowhole blasts for us. But a taste...
A view from the walkway at the pancake rocks
1 comment:
It is the 26th of October today. I am reading your entries backwards. I thought the glacier was WAY COOL. But it seems you may have topped the glacier with this coast line, which looks amazing. The reference to Dr. Seuss trees helped set the tone for the remarkable rock structures in the pictures. Thanks for the little movie with sound.
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