Our destination: the West coast - and more specifically, the Franz Josef & Fox glaciers along with some other sights along the way.
Since we needed to drive over to the West coast on Saturday, we decided to see some sights around the Greymouth area that we skipped last time we drove over this way for the day. As we were passing through Greymouth, Brian noticed a couple walking along the side of the main road that looked a lot like our good friends from Christchurch, Aaron and Silvia Downes. I was quite skeptical, but agreed to turn around and take a closer look.
Good thing we checked, because it was our friends! What an amazing coincidence that we both planned trips to this area on the same weekend and happened to be going past each other at exactly the right time! After recovering from our surprise meeting, we decided to do some sightseeing together north of Greymouth, in the town of Punakaiki.
Pancake Rocks
First up were the Pancake Rocks, which are made out of layered limestone. Apparently, they were formed 30 million years ago from dead marine creatures that were pressurized on the floor of the sea where it turned into limestone. Over time, seismic activity (which is quite common in this part of the world!) lifted the limestone above the seabed. So now we can see these layers and they look like stacks of pancakes.
So when Brian asked me if he could wear that shirt, I thought sure - we aren't going to see anyone we know. Of course I had no idea we would run into friends and I obviously didn't take pictures into account. Whoops!
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| Aaron and Silvia Downes - celebrating their 6th wedding anniversary! |
Fun story: Since Aaron is of Maori descent, Brian asked him what Punakaiki meant in English. After pausing for a moment, Aaron answered in a very convincing tone that it was the Maori word for "pancake". We thought this was very cool, but they found out that he was joking. Fooled us! Aaron wasn't sure what it meant, so I've looked at the Maori->English dictionary and it's a tough one!
Punakaiki isn't its own word, but we've found that several town names are multiples words smashed together. So, loosely translated (by me), puna kai ki means to well up or flow into food. Since the west coast is well known for white bait (more on that later) I take that to mean this was a good spot to get food when it was named. Anyway, I digress...back to the fun!
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| Me and Silvia lounging on some limestone |
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| We had to climb down some pretty steep steps! |
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| Seems no one wants to be in my pictures...stop hiding Aaron! |
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| The rock formation reminded me of someone flexing. Too bad I have no muscle tone at this point in my life haha. |
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| Checking out the birds |
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| What a gorgeous view! |
Blowholes
Not only did we see the Pancake Rocks while we were here, but we also saw quite a few blowholes. Luckily we arrived just as the tide was going out so we got to see a few good spouts. Love my fast action camera so you can see the movement.
Arches
One last thing in this area before we moved on. Brian and I really liked this arch that is being carved by the sea. It reminded us of a huge one we saw in Aruba several years ago. Only that one was so eroded that it finally collapsed. This one looks like it has a ways to go before that happens.
This post is officially getting long with all of these pictures, so I am going to finish off the day in a separate post. Cheers!
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