Westport

On Sunday, we headed north to Westport. We’d been expecting rain almost completely throughout our sojourn on the West Coast – it is famous for it, and it’s part of the “West Coast Experience”. But Sunday was warm and sunny. We’d left the sun screen back at home in the expectation of not needing it, so were caught a bit short there.

Our first stop was at the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki. We’d set out reasonably early, and this proved to be a boon, because we got there before the car park had filled up, and also it was high tide at the time we were there, which is the best time to get the full effects of the surf and blowholes. It’s almost as though we’d planned it that way…almost.

The pancake rocks are a geological formation of questionable origin. Seriously, the scientists don’t have an accepted theory why they formed that way. The current theory is that it’s something to do with grain aggregation which leads to layers of rock forming with differing rates of erosion, which leads to their appearance, like a stack of pancakes. Also, the sea has eroded various blowholes and caves throughout the rock formation, so at high tide the air and water are forced up through the blowholes into the clifftops above. There is a specially-constructed walkway through the rock formations, where we saw korimako and white-fronted terns as well as more common seabirds.

Observe the pancake-ness

Korimako (bellbird)

Tara (white-fronted tern)

After a quick beverage at the café, and the purchase of a been-there-done-that t-shirt, we continued northwards to Cape Foulwind. The opportunities for fnarr-ing here should have been endless, but we failed to find a signpost at sufficient elevation to get a picture. The main purpose of the visit is to see the seal colony, which is at greater distance, and more protected from, the general public than the one at Red Rocks in Wellington. I didn’t have my long lens with me so the pics aren’t great. We did, however, witness a fight (it was more handbags at dawn, really) between two males, and also saw a seal pup.

Get off my rock!

Cuteness

Most of Westport was shut as it was Sunday, and they still do things like that round there. We found a café open for lunch, though, and after that we headed inland. We stopped to take pictures of the scenic scenery, and this is where stage two of our unpreparedness struck. Despite having managed brought insect repellent with us for just such an eventuality, we hadn’t actually taken the precaution of using it…largely as we hadn’t expected to leave the car. As we were returning, I noticed insects on my legs and swatted them off. Too late! The problem with sandflies (for it was indeed they) is that you don’t feel the bites, and you don’t notice until much later that you’ve been bitten. As it was, I suffered several bites. Fortunately, as antihistamines course through my blood throughout the summer due to the hay fever tablets I take each morning, it wasn’t too bad. Should really have learned this lesson by now, though.

We continued along the inland road until we reached Reefton. Again, not much was open, but we found a café for a refreshment stop, before heading back to Greymouth. There, we discovered that the hotel restaurant was closed because they only have one chef, and he needs a night off. We were therefore directed to the Monteith’s bar further down the road for dinner.