The inevitable happened: I got sick. After hanging out with a sick Michael for 4 days and walking through sea and rain it was just a matter of time before I got a cold. Being sick it might not have been my best idea to go to the West Coast, this must be the wettest region in New-Zealand, but I'm glad I did it because it's one of the most beautiful places on earth (I said that before and I think I'm gonna say it a few more times while I'm on the South Island). The West Coast is a small strip of land wedged between the Tasman Sea and the Southern Alpes and it catches all the rain that doesn't make it over the mountains. When it's raining there are water falls everywhere, the rivers become wild and roaring in a couple of minutes and the rain forest is at it's best. The West Coast has only 60 000 inhabitants and the few tourists who come here drive through it as fast as they can.
My first stop was Westport, one of the bigger towns, in the north of the West Coast. It's a slow moving fishermen's town where everybody knows everything about everybody else. There isn't much to see but a seal colony at Cape Foulwind, 16km out of town. So I took one of the hostels bikes and went up there. The cape hasn't stolen its name (named Foulwind by Captain Cook because he battled the winds there for 9 days to round the cape) it took me almost 1.5 hours to bike up there against the wind. On the 3km beach walk to the seal colony I could admire the cliffs and rocks beaten in to shape by sea and wind and I met my first Weka. The Weka is a flightless bird that looks like a cross between a chicken and a kiwi. Weka's are cheecky bastards, they have no fear whatsoever. A Coaster told me that if you leave the door of your house open Weka's will just walk in, parade around your kitchen and look you in the eye like they own the place. The seal colony wasn't very spectacular. Seals are quite lazy and when they don't move they look just like the rocks they are resting on.
Westport is also the centre of the Whitebaiters (the entire West Coast is actually, but Westport especially). The story of whitebait is a bit cruel. Whitebait is the premature form of a trout like fish. They exist as larvae in the sea and only develop gills and scrubs as they hit fresh water when they swim up the rivers to mate. Whitebaiters catch them at the river mouths, somewhere in between their development from larvae to full grown fish. They are still very small, have the beginnings of eyes and gills but they are still more jelly than a solid fish. Whitebait is a local delicates and every coaster has his favourite river to catch them, or has his favourite whitebait fritter shop (much like we in Belgium all have our favourite chips shop). I didn't try it because I can't imagine Whitebait fritters, which is basically a fishy omelette, taste any good.
The next stop was Punakaiki, home to the famous Pancake Rocks. The rocks are a massive tourist attraction but the village remained unspoiled. Probably because there is nothing over there besides 2 taverns, a hostel and 2 motels. No shop, no petrol station, not even an ATM. So most tourist just stop at the rocks, take pictures for 10 minutes, hop back in their camper van and drive on. It's their loss because it's really beautiful up there, the land around Punakaiki is made up of limestone and sandstone. Thousands of years of exposure to sea and wind knocked it into shape. There are caves carved by the rivers, the beaches are littered with weird shaped rocks (all of them deserve a picture) and of course the famous Pancake rocks that look, as the name suggests, exactly like stacks of pancakes. Beside walking down the beach I also walked part of the Inland Pack track, a 2 day hike in the Paparoa National Park. I didn't do the entire hike because it involves a lot of river crossing and wading through a cold river didn't seem attractive to me while I still had a cold. Also the rivers become impassable very quick if it starts raining and already many hikers had to camp out in the park a few days longer then they expected because of rain. So I only walked the first 8km of the track that has bridges on it. Still very beautiful, inside a river gorge through thick rain forest.
My last day in Punakaiki I got the chance to see the pancake rocks at their best. I got there with high tide during a massive storm. It was biblical. Giant waves crashing down on the rocks forcing their way up through blowholes to create huge fountains of mist. The blowholes normally only operate with spring tide but a storm coming in from the right direction does the trick as well. Truly a powerful spectacle and me and a few other brave souls gladly got soaked to see it.
Punakaiki is great, a place I would like to live. The hostel had great views on the sea and the rocks and I was sad to leave after 2 days. I could not stay any longer because I came unprepared and I did not have enough food with me. 400gr of pasta, 400gr of cheese and 2 eggs was barely enough for 2 days, but with beautiful scenery and loads of free tea in the hostel, I did not care to much about that.
At the moment I,m in Greymouth. A bigger town and centre of the West Coast. Here I wanted to rent a car and drive down the southern part of the South Island. But that turned out not to be as easy as I hoped. I need a credit card and to book at least a week in advance to get a good rate. So I'm stuck in Greymouth for a while. I found a job in a hostel but I'll tell you more about Greymouth later
My first stop was Westport, one of the bigger towns, in the north of the West Coast. It's a slow moving fishermen's town where everybody knows everything about everybody else. There isn't much to see but a seal colony at Cape Foulwind, 16km out of town. So I took one of the hostels bikes and went up there. The cape hasn't stolen its name (named Foulwind by Captain Cook because he battled the winds there for 9 days to round the cape) it took me almost 1.5 hours to bike up there against the wind. On the 3km beach walk to the seal colony I could admire the cliffs and rocks beaten in to shape by sea and wind and I met my first Weka. The Weka is a flightless bird that looks like a cross between a chicken and a kiwi. Weka's are cheecky bastards, they have no fear whatsoever. A Coaster told me that if you leave the door of your house open Weka's will just walk in, parade around your kitchen and look you in the eye like they own the place. The seal colony wasn't very spectacular. Seals are quite lazy and when they don't move they look just like the rocks they are resting on.
Westport is also the centre of the Whitebaiters (the entire West Coast is actually, but Westport especially). The story of whitebait is a bit cruel. Whitebait is the premature form of a trout like fish. They exist as larvae in the sea and only develop gills and scrubs as they hit fresh water when they swim up the rivers to mate. Whitebaiters catch them at the river mouths, somewhere in between their development from larvae to full grown fish. They are still very small, have the beginnings of eyes and gills but they are still more jelly than a solid fish. Whitebait is a local delicates and every coaster has his favourite river to catch them, or has his favourite whitebait fritter shop (much like we in Belgium all have our favourite chips shop). I didn't try it because I can't imagine Whitebait fritters, which is basically a fishy omelette, taste any good.
The next stop was Punakaiki, home to the famous Pancake Rocks. The rocks are a massive tourist attraction but the village remained unspoiled. Probably because there is nothing over there besides 2 taverns, a hostel and 2 motels. No shop, no petrol station, not even an ATM. So most tourist just stop at the rocks, take pictures for 10 minutes, hop back in their camper van and drive on. It's their loss because it's really beautiful up there, the land around Punakaiki is made up of limestone and sandstone. Thousands of years of exposure to sea and wind knocked it into shape. There are caves carved by the rivers, the beaches are littered with weird shaped rocks (all of them deserve a picture) and of course the famous Pancake rocks that look, as the name suggests, exactly like stacks of pancakes. Beside walking down the beach I also walked part of the Inland Pack track, a 2 day hike in the Paparoa National Park. I didn't do the entire hike because it involves a lot of river crossing and wading through a cold river didn't seem attractive to me while I still had a cold. Also the rivers become impassable very quick if it starts raining and already many hikers had to camp out in the park a few days longer then they expected because of rain. So I only walked the first 8km of the track that has bridges on it. Still very beautiful, inside a river gorge through thick rain forest.
My last day in Punakaiki I got the chance to see the pancake rocks at their best. I got there with high tide during a massive storm. It was biblical. Giant waves crashing down on the rocks forcing their way up through blowholes to create huge fountains of mist. The blowholes normally only operate with spring tide but a storm coming in from the right direction does the trick as well. Truly a powerful spectacle and me and a few other brave souls gladly got soaked to see it.
Punakaiki is great, a place I would like to live. The hostel had great views on the sea and the rocks and I was sad to leave after 2 days. I could not stay any longer because I came unprepared and I did not have enough food with me. 400gr of pasta, 400gr of cheese and 2 eggs was barely enough for 2 days, but with beautiful scenery and loads of free tea in the hostel, I did not care to much about that.
At the moment I,m in Greymouth. A bigger town and centre of the West Coast. Here I wanted to rent a car and drive down the southern part of the South Island. But that turned out not to be as easy as I hoped. I need a credit card and to book at least a week in advance to get a good rate. So I'm stuck in Greymouth for a while. I found a job in a hostel but I'll tell you more about Greymouth later
Cape Foulwind and my new best friend, the Weka
The seals of Cape Foulwind
Westport coast
Views from the hostel in Punakaiki, ocean on 1 side, jungle and cliffs on the other
Truman Beach in Punakaiki
I tried to make this picture 7 times
Inland Pack Track: beautiful jungle
Pancake Rocks in good weather
A typical West Coast sunset
Die ene foto (SAM_0741.jpg) doet mij denken aan het eiland van de Thunderbirds...
ReplyDeleteIs het wseer nog niet stilletjes aan 'licht' zomers aan het worden? Hier is het nog 21graden geweest dees weekend. :)
Grtz,
Cptn. Pete