Jen Hillam: Glaciers to Punakaki

With not much to do in the Franz Josef we hit the road early. It was my turn to drive again and I was pretty excited. It was just an absolutely gorgeous drive but everyone else fell asleep, they really missed out. It was a highway along the west coast. The road was surrounded by lakes, valleys, beaches, thick dense forests and just off to the east were the Southern Alps with the largest mountains in New Zealand all covered in snow. It was just such a wide range of beauty all vibrant and full of life.

On our way we stopped in Hokitika, the Jade capital of New Zealand. Jade jewellery is extremely popular here but a little too expensive for me. Then it was on the Greymouth, finally a real city with grocery stores and cheap gas stations. We took a short break here to get groceries and fill up, we looked up when the high tide was to make for ideal conditions for our next destination.

At 3:30pm just as the tide was at its highest we arrived at Punakaiki pancake rocks and blowholes. As the waves crash in they shoot water vapour up through big holes and it looks like a whale’s blowhole but it only happens at high tide so the water can reach the holes. They rocks are all made by tons of layers and look like a stack of pancakes.

It had been a long driving day but after seeing the rocks we finally made it to our hostel in the little town of Punakaiki. There wasn’t much to do and we were feeling a bit adventurous so I have no idea whose idea it was because it had been freezing all trip but we decided to go swimming in the ocean. It is still early spring here and had been raining all day but somehow they talked me into it. It was freezing! Only Josh got in all the way but the beach we went to actually had some really strong currents and the waves were huge so it wasn’t super safe to go out deep so we got in, got wet, and got out. Then back to the hostel to warm up and play some monopoly, which Alyssa thoroughly kicked our butts in, but it was good time in our cozy cabin hostel.