Day Nineteen - Haast Beach to Punakaiki Beach

day_nineteen
Originally uploaded by bpelley.

We arrrived late last night at Haast Beach after a long, steep and windy drive from Wanaka. We must have crossed about 15 one-way bridges! Fortunately, there was very littler after-dinner traffic. Our first glimpse of the west coast of New Zealand and the Tasman Sea came in the morning upon our waking at Haast beach.
Our drive up the West Coast, while slow and curvy like Route 1 in California, was truly beautiful. The surroundings turned tropical. We were blessed with another clear day and therefore a great opportunity to gaze upon the Fox Glacier, one of two major glacier attractions that can be easily accessed from the road on the West Coast. Instead of paying for an expensive tour to walk on, near, through or fly above the glacier, we opted instead for walks in the area that would give us good views of the glacier and the surrounding mountains. The two big peaks in the area are Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in New Zealand) and Mt. Tasman (also very tall). We walked around Lake McKenzie which framed picturesque views of the two mountains and later did a hike to good viewpoints for the Fox Glacier. After a good lunch (our lunch staples appear to be cheese, bread, salami, tomatoes, avocados, chips and chocolate!) we hit the road again and headed for Punakaiki Beach and the famous Pancake Rocks. After a quick dinner in the van at our beautiful beach campsite, we hiked out to view the Pancake Rocks at high tide, the peak of their activiity. How are the rocks active, you ask? Well, they aren't, but the ocean around them certainly is. Crevices and caverns have been carved out of the rocks over time. Some of the outlets make excellent blowholes that come alive during high tides and swelling seas. The rocks look like stacks of pancakes (hence their name) because they are made up of layers of harder rock interspersed with softer rock. The soft rock erodes quicker than the hard rock so there is a cool stacked effect. The rocks were pretty cool, but they were certainly enhanced by the beautiful sunset in the distances. The sky was full of pink and orange and purple ribbons. After saying goodnight to the resident cat, we tucked ourselves in for the night. It was a perfect ending to a another great day in New Zealand.

For more pictures from Day Nineteen, click here.