Gav woke early (5am) to Skype home as his family was having a party for his Grandma’s 90th birthday. It was great to speak to everybody while they were all in one place, although a bit strange to be sat in the pitch black in the front of the van! When we both woke properly, the weather was cloudy but we hoped it would clear up as the day went on. We knew that there was a seal colony near to where we stayed so we packed up the van and followed the signs to see what we could find. We had to park up and follow a path for about 1km, when we arrived we could hear the bark of a seal but could not see anything. As we went around the corner we were greeted by a small colony of fur seals – or Kekeno as the Kiwi’s call them. Some of the seals were basking in the sun, while others playfully swam between the rock islands.
There was quite a few baby seals as the breading season had just finished. It was beautiful to see these animals in their natural environment and not in a zoo or aquarium. We spent a little bit of time enjoying watching the cute seals before we decided to move on.
There was quite a few baby seals as the breading season had just finished. It was beautiful to see these animals in their natural environment and not in a zoo or aquarium. We spent a little bit of time enjoying watching the cute seals before we decided to move on.
The nearest big town was Westport so we decided to head there to see what it had to offer. When we got there we discovered that it was a pretty small town and as it was Sunday, most of the shops were shut. The area was quite widely used for gold mining in the past therefore most of the activities involved mine tours or visits – not really something that grabbed us, so we hit the road again.
We drove south on the West Coast road which has stunning mountain ranges rising straight out of the pristine sand beaches. The views were incredible as we twisted our way south, inches from the beach one minute, on a mountain pass the next. We had a brief stop at Punakaiki lookout which had panoramic views of the dramatic scenery.
After a couple of hours we arrived at a tourist attraction called ‘Pancake Rocks’ which we had read about before we left home. Intrigued we headed down a path to see what it was all about. The sea had eaten away at the limestone cliffs and left rock formations that looked like pancakes stacked hundreds of feet high! It was an amazing sight, like nothing we had seen before. There is no explanation of why this has happened and experts are stumped by the formations. One of the cliffs had an interesting shape which looked like several animals and faces. There was a sign to point out what to look for and it was amazing that Mother Nature had created these strange forms.
After a couple of hours we arrived at a tourist attraction called ‘Pancake Rocks’ which we had read about before we left home. Intrigued we headed down a path to see what it was all about. The sea had eaten away at the limestone cliffs and left rock formations that looked like pancakes stacked hundreds of feet high! It was an amazing sight, like nothing we had seen before. There is no explanation of why this has happened and experts are stumped by the formations. One of the cliffs had an interesting shape which looked like several animals and faces. There was a sign to point out what to look for and it was amazing that Mother Nature had created these strange forms.
To finish the day we headed to the next largest town – Greymouth. True to the guide books, the weather was cloudy and drizzling when we arrived and just like Westport everything was shut. By now we had done enough driving so headed to a campsite. One of the perks of this campsite was that it had a free spa pool so the first thing we did was book that for 30 minutes! It was amazing to sit in the hot tub for a while and let our aches and pains fade away. We felt revitalised!
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