Punakaiki's Pancake Rocks

December 17^th, 2019

The weather was still grey and occasionally rainy but luckily it was another mostly travel day as I wanted to get up close to Nelson.  I hadn’t really factored in the holiday season for the general public and realized that Christmas and New Year’s would seriously tax the ferry system between the south and the north islands.  I found that my only option, apart from taking a ferry in the middle of the night, was a 9 am ferry on December 20^th so I needed to head north and be in Picton on December 19^th and I still wanted to check out Abel Tasman Park.

One stop along Highway 6 which runs up the west coast of the south island that I unexpectedly pulled into Punakaiki and its Pancake Rocks.  There was a parking lot, café, gift shops and restrooms on one side of the highway and a 400 meter trail on the ocean side that featured these eroded limestone columns with distinct horizontal sections like someone built the rocks one layer or “pancake” at a time.  Pretty cool looking.  Also very cool was a surge pool that the trail ran around, making part of the path look like it was a bridge over a large hole where the waves were entering and crashing against the walls of rock.

The tidal tunnel:

Seagulls took advantage of the tall isolated islands of rock to make their nests and loved ridge soaring the terrain.  I could have watched them for hours but I still had some miles to make on the road.   I jumped back in Betty 2.0 and made my way north for another half hour before the highway turned inland towards the small city of Nelson.  There was some loose gravel on a section of the road and I heard a couple of ka-chings on my windshield as a car passed by in the other lane.  I scanned my windshield for damage and spotted not one, but two small chips.  Damn.  Better get those checked out before they spread.

Seagulls on the top of the rock enjoying their safety and isolation.

This was on the way inland.  If you can see the campervan just off centre, it's a single lane carved into the hillside and the rock is actually overhanging the road.

So instead of stopping short of Nelson at a campsite, I cruised into town right around rush hour and there was a definite backup of traffic exiting the city that I would have to deal with later.  I found a windshield repair shop and after the guy inspected the suspected damage, he told me they’d already been fixed.  Sweet.  Funny how I hadn’t seen them before as they weren’t in my main view out of the driver’s seat but after the little hits I had inspected the windshield meticulously and finally noticed them.

The traffic wasn’t too bad getting back out of the city and I pulled into one campsite on the coast called McKee Memorial.  It was big with a lot of long termers with massive canvas tents or rundown campers.  There were spots available but they were all tucked behind a berm that blocked any view of the ocean plus the recent rains had left big puddles in the grass here and there…it just felt slightly soggy and miserable.  I checked out another site a few clicks down the road, Kina Reserve, and it was perfect.  Both campsites were cheap at $6 and $5 respectively but the vibe at Kina, albeit a bit hippie-ish, was more inviting.  I backed Betty 2.0 into a spot where I could see waves crashing on the beach out my back window.  A good spot for the night.