New Zealand - Days 10 & 11

Sunday May 27, 2018

We woke up, ate, packed up, and continued our drive west through the mountain passes and out the other side on the west coast of the country. The Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes in Paparoa National Park were our destination for the day. The scenic Coast Road (think Pacific Coast Highway) that led us north along the coast to Paparoa was quite pretty and a fun drive. Even John and I, who were getting pretty tired of driving, couldn't deny the roads beauty.

We arrived at Paparoa around lunch time and after eating our sack lunches embarked on the pleasant 15-20 minute walk that lead to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.

As soon as we came up on the rock formations the name "Pancake Rocks" made much more sense.

There were a few blowholes that had been created from the weathering of the rocks in the area as well.

The pathway was very nicely maintained and had placards spaced periodically giving information on the area.

What was most interesting to me is that geologists are still unsure as to how these unique formations were created.

All in all it was a very pretty area and nice little stroll along the coast.

Once we had made our way around the Pancake Rock walkway we drove about 200 meters down the road to park and take a walk through the Punakaiki Cavern. It was a large cave but didn't go into the mountainside very far, making it easy for the average Joe to walk in and have a look around. We didn't stay very long, but it was fun to walk through. John summed up our time in the cave best when he said, "tall people don't do well in caves." Ha!

After the cavern our final stop on the itinerary for the day was the Truman Track. Again this was a short and easy 15 minute walk that took us to a beautiful and secluded beach.

I was really surprised that there weren't more people here; it was so pretty and not difficult to get to at all!

We only saw 2 other people while we were there and they were headed out as we arrived.

The pathway lead to this first beach area but then if you continued walking along the beach and around the bend it led to an even more secluded and intimate feeling beach.

A beach where the sea cliff had been worn away into a large, shallow cave with water dripping from the ceiling. I tried to get a good picture of it but was unsuccessful. Here's one of me inside the "cave" looking out though:

We enjoyed ourselves.

The last leg of our drive took us to our Holiday Park at Carter's Beach (near Westport). We arrived mid-afternoon and upgraded to a room. The remainder of the day was spent running a few errands, doing laundry, and (of course) relaxing.

Monday May 28, 2018

We took our time getting ready this morning because we had the room booked through for the next night as well. We had a small day trip planned that took us up north along the coast to the Kahurangi National Park and some hikes in the area. The drive to the hike carpark was pretty wicked though. Up some very windy, vary narrow roads through some cliffside passes and down into isolated valleys. I wish I could say we enjoyed it, but I think too much time in the car had really gotten to us.

It took us about 2 hours to make the trip, and once we had parked and used the facilities we took off on some much needed leg-stretching walks. The first being Oparara Arch. The ~30 minute hike took us along the banks of a river unlike any I had ever seen before. It was a gorgeous gold/bronze color!

Such a striking contrast to the surrounding lush greenery.

The Oparara Basin has a number of sandstone arches in the area, but the Oparara Arch is famous because of it's size.

Large enough to fit a multi-story house in it. The arch consists of a smaller, disconnected portion (see above) and the larger more tunnel like arch.

I just could not get enough of the river though. In the deeper spots the color turned from a rust to a deep reddish/black. It was kind of eerie looking. So cool though! We found out later that the color was due to natural tannins (a biomolecule) released into the water by native plant species in the area. As the tannins decompose they leech into the water, staining it golden/red.

Once we were back at the car, we hopped in and ate lunch while we warmed up. (The place may look like a rainforest, but it stayed really chilly in the shade of the trees!) Afterwords we took another, longer hike to the Moria Gate Arch. Maybe not as impressive with its size, but much more pretty in it's surroundings.

The pathway was pretty cool to walk on too.

By the time we were finished and had driven back to Carter's Beach both of us were about pooped. We attempted to go check out the seal colony at Tauranga Bay, but didn't see a single one. That may or may not have been because we only looked from inside the car though... like I said, we were pooped haha.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out in our room and deciding where we wanted to  go out for dinner that evening. We eventually landed on the Denniston Dog Cafe and Bar and were not disappointed. They're known for their "stone grill" experience. Which basically means you're meat comes out raw with a hot stone and you get to cook it yourself. John couldn't say no to that, but I wanted them to cook my food for me, thank you very much. He got the sampler, I got the steak. They were both good, I think mine edged his out in taste though. All in all an enjoyable evening for us both.