New Zealand IV: Pancake Rocks and Glacier Pools

  Jan 6, 2011

We rose early Thursday morning, and set off on our next destination- Punakaiki. Of course, this meant first driving back over the treacherous Takaka mountain road. I have new found appreciation for our cruise-control friendly highways here in the states. Once safely to the other side, we drove down the west coast of the south island for 5 hours, passing through numerous small towns along the way, such as Greymouth and Hokitika, until we reached our destination.

The Pancake Rocks

Punakaiki, otherwise referred to as the Pancake Rocks, is a heavily eroded limestone area located along the coast. The rocks feature many holes that the sea bursts through (aka-blowholes), making it a popular tourist attraction. When I read on the map "Pancake Rocks" I envisioned large, round flat rocks that where shaped like silver dollar pancakes or stacked IHOP pancakes. In my mind, all I would need was a bottle of maple syrup and I'd be ready to chomp down on one of those rocks when I saw them. I was wrong. The rocks are named so because of the "pancake" layering of the limestone that I guess resembles a plate of hundreds of deformed pancakes stacked on top of each other. Really, really thin and deformed pancakes. More like deformed crepes than pancakes now that I think about it. I suppose "Crepe Rocks" doesn't have the same ring to it. Regardless, the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks were super cool.

The Pancake Rocks: See the stacked "pancakes"?

There were pathways winding through the rock formations, revealing to me a world of pancakes I had never seen before.

The walkway

Stacks and stacks of pancakes!

A big hole. Hopefully NOT a blowhole. That would be intense. 

One of the best parts of the Pancake Rocks was the blowhole. We were taken off guard when water suddenly shot up vertically in the sky and sprayed us with water particles everywhere. It was like being in the front row of Shamu's show at Sea World. We raced to grab our cameras so we could capture the next eruption, but nothing happened. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Other visitors walked past us dismissing the rocks before us as nothing more than another bunch of pancake rocks, unaware of the volatile blowhole below that we knew was going to burst unexpectedly at any moment. It was just a matter of when. And so we continued to wait until finally Shamu the blowhole decided to burst once more. This time I had my shutter ready. See?

Shamu the blowhole 

 We also enjoyed playing the "What do you see?" game, as encouraged by the below sign. It's amazing how long you can stare at a bunch of rocks shouting out random things you see in the formations. It's also amazing how much fun it can be. So go ahead, give it a go. What do you see? (Look at the second picture. My apologies that it isn't bigger. The first is just a guide).

Oh! And we saw our very first Kiwi bird! They are adorable, flightless birds native to New Zealand.

Franz Josef & The Glacier Pools

After our eyes were full of pancakes (not our stomachs unfortunately), we hopped back into the car and embarked further down the west coast for 3 more hours until we reached Franz Josef. Before I forget, I would just like to take this moment to mention how few gas stations there are in New Zealand. Here in the states you can't drive a mile without passing at least one, and on the highway you know there will be a rest stop eventually. In New Zealand I had no such assurance. Especially when we passed a road signs stating "No fuel for the next 150 km". And we passed many. Each time I gulped, wiping perspiration from my forehead and praying to the fuel gods that we had enough to make it there, wherever there was, because I had no sense of how far Madame Vitz could take us on the fuel we had. The drive from Punakaiki to Franz Josef was one such drive. Fortunately, we never found ourselves stranded on the side of the road waiting in desperation for someone to drive by and rescue us. I don't think my AAA card would have been much help in that situation.

Franz Josef is home to the Franz Josef Glacier, a 12 km long glacier located in the Westland National Park, This glacier, along with the neighboring Fox Glacier, are unique because they descend from the Southern Alps into a temperate rainforest. Our intention had been to see both glaciers and go on a guided glacier walk, as this was our first (and probably last) time ever being at a glacier. However, neither happened. Mr. Weatherman decided to rain on our glacier parade. This is what we saw when we looked at the glacier.

Franz Josef Glacier...Somewhere in there

This is what we would have seen on a sunny day (or at least something like this):

Evidently, the "see a glacier" and "walk on a glacier" part of our plans fell through. Secretly, I didn't mind because a) I'm not partial to cold things and b) neither Laura nor I had packed appropriately for such an adventure. After all, it was summertime! We had been wearing shorts and t-shirts just that morning and here were were in Franz Joseph bundled up in jeans and sweatshirts. Climbing on the glacier would have required wearing a snowsuit, hat, gloves and warm wool socks, none of which we had. In retrospect, I think I owe the weatherman a singing "thank you" card for keeping us indoors and my body frostbite-free. Ok, that's not exactly accurate because Laura and I did end up outside, only we experienced the warmer side of Franz Joseph. Why freeze your limbs off when you can soothe them at the Glacier Hot Pools? It's a no brainer. And so Laura and I grabbed our swimsuits (something we had packed) and headed to the hot pools for some much needed relaxation.

The glacier pools were nestled in a lush rainforest. There were three 3 pools, each filled with pure local glacier water and ranging in temperature from 36 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees Celsius (96-100 degrees Fahrenheit). We pool hopped from one giant glacier hot tub to the next, basking in their blissful warmth. After a long couple of days driving, this was precisely what I needed to unwind and re-energize for the next leg of our trip.

A Glacier Pool. The screen up top sheltered us from the rain.

There were a lot of people in the pools actually, we just found our own isolated spot.

 That evening, Laura and I ventured into town and went to the one bar that was open. It reminded me of a ski lodge bar- cute and cozy with fireplaces ablaze. We indulged in a kiwi dessert plate (kiwi as in the fruit, not the New Zealand native), and Laura had her first legal beer! Hooray for New Zealand having a drink age of 18. After our dessert and beers we got wild and crazy and went to bed. Hey, we had another early start the next day. Besides, there was a scarcity of handsome New Zealand men at the bar. While we may have been in need of some good eye candy, we weren't going to be in need of sleep!