New Zealand #7 - Pancake Rocks - Punakaika, South Island

As we leave Fox Glacier after a night of heavy rain the weather forecast is for pleasant temperatures, almost 20 Celsius, with the possibility that we will see some sun.

Pancake Rocks, looking south towards Greymouth.

After a very short drive we arrive at Franz Josef Glacier. It's still raining so we pass on the short walk into the reflective lake, which we figure won't be too reflective, and settle for some telephoto shots.

We're still on Highway 6, one of the main national highways, but in this part of the South Island, as it hugs the coast and crosses many rivers coming down from the mountains to the sea, we find more and more one-lane bridges like this one.

The diversity of the New Zealand landscape has been one of the great revelations of our roadtrip thus far. This shot of tropical trees was taken about an hour's drive from the mountain glacier wreathed in rainy clouds!

The weather is still a bit roughish - looking at the ditch, the Tasman Sea, with heavy winds and surf.

We stop in Greymouth for petrol and groceries, the first large town we've seen since leaving Wanaka two days ago. Lunch at Ali’s Café, sharing tea, toasted (i.e. grilled) cheese and onion sandwich, and chicken and mushroom soup, is just what we need, because the food is excellent and the café very warm and inviting, and - surprise - we got caught in a massive downpour just as we started to load our groceries into the SUV! I guess the weather forecast wasn't entirely accurate after all! And thankfully when we found the café in the center of town there was a parking spot opening up right by the door, so we didn't get soaked again running from the car to the door! It's also about this time that brightonbonnie realizes she’s left the $6 housecoat that she bought at the Salvation Army in Queenstown in our room in Haast, but the weather seems to be getting warmer so we think she will survive without it...

After lunch the rain and cloud clears off somewhat and we have another great drive to Punakaika, where we stop to see the absolutely stunning Pancake Rocks and Blowholes -

Sedimentary layers look like stacked pancakes - hence the name!

Looking north towards a small village and caravan park...

...and to the south.

One of the blowholes, with surf coming in under eroded rock.

This is our first experience of a state park in New Zealand, and we are surprised there is no entrance fee, and also that it is so well laid-out, with ample parking, information center, and lots of walkways and observation platforms - well done indeed!

Finally, one more shot of the many one-lane bridges, this one with a railway track! We have priority so the oncoming traffic is waiting for us to cross, but there's really no indication of what we're supposed to do if there's a train - I decide they have priority, whatever direction they are traveling! Later, heading into Greymouth we actually encounter a couple of roundabouts with unregulated rail tracks, so possibly lights, sometimes just a warning sign ‘watch for trains’, but no gates, so you are processing in your North American mind how to go through the roundabout while trying to confirm there’s not a really big train coming on fast! Why didn't they include the train and roundabout bit in my 'never drove in New Zealand' briefing in Queenstown?

PS - if you've enjoyed this post please check out my first 6 New Zealand posts, the previous 19 posts in my Australia series, and the 3 before that as we started our 90 day roadtrip in Tahiti!

And please join us in my next post as we continue today's drive north along the west coast to our next caravan park in Westport!

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!steemitworldmap -42.114817 lat 171.329161 long Punakaiki South Island New Zealand d3scr