NZ Holiday - West Coast of NZ - From Cape Foulwind to Hokitika

Pancake Day - Pouring in Punakaiki - 18th October

Punakaiki Rocks take a battering

Piled up Pancakes

Hokitika -  the clock tower

Blown away on Hokitika Beach

The wild weather continued. To be fair to the West Coast, if you drive down when a Severe Weather Warning is in place you can expect a little inconvenience. Even more so if the warning is for strong South Westerlies. Our little Yaris was buffeted by these blasts from the southern ocean as we wound down on Highway 6 towards the Pancake Rocks. We pulled up in a Car Park in Punakaiki that was filled with Camper Vans. Not sure how stable they are in the wind. One Aussie said he had seen one earlier that slid four feet sideways on the road ahead  of him. They are very popular here though and range from basic people carriers to more sophisticated North American sized vehicles. We are relatively slow drivers and some have no difficulty passing us. Campers are certainly a reasonable option for a holiday here, the traffic is light and its a long way between towns and hostelries. As long as you don't get blown off the road of course! Anyway, every day is pancake day in Punakaiki and we braved the elements to look at some peculiar rock formations.They look like they were built with Plywood? Seem to be standing up pretty well though, they have lasted 35 million years so far. Also here you can see blasts from blow-holes where the waves go under the rock formations and spout up high through the gaps. To be honest, with the heavy rain, thumping waves and water spouting it was a maelstrom. We met another couple there, not in proper wet weather gear. They said; 'we are from England, we are used to this'! They must live in a washing machine stuck on a cold rinse cycle! After half an hour we were well soaked and headed to the Cafe and the dryer. We then resumed our journey South on Highway 6. Seeing people struggling to stand up at the mouth of the Grey River persuaded us not to stop. Sorry Greymouth, maybe next time. Regular obstacles on Highway 6 are the single lane bridges. To the South of Greymouth a bridge goes one better, a train track goes down the middle as well. At the time we did not know that there were only two trains per day. Luckily TW was driving so it was her knuckles that turned white. Having survived the wind, express trains and floods we decided enough was enough. We booked into a cabin in Hokitika. It didn't quite keep the wind out, not sure what would today to be honest, but at least it was watertight. Correction, it was watertight until I left the kitchen tap running on a sink with no overflow. Oh well, if the weather had been good we would never have seen Hokitika. The Lady in the I-Site was brilliant.