White Herons, Black Swans and Pancakes

Trip Start Feb 19, 2010

Trip End Mar 20, 2010

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Flag of New Zealand Punakaiki, West Coast, New Zealand
Friday, March 5, 2010

After a very long discussion on the best route back across to the East Coast from the West we, perhaps controversially, decided to give Arthur's Pass a miss. Gavin had already done plenty of bendy and hilly driving across mountains and around coast, and we didn't need to go back to Christchurch, so we opted for a more unconventional route to Kaikoura via Hanmer Springs. There were still a few things we wanted to do on this side of New Zealand before crossing back, starting with a stop at Hokitika to look at some of the history of Maori jade (pounamu) working and a chance to see the unusual Pancake Rocks just north of Greymouth.

On the way to Hokitika, we passed near to a white heron reserve and just caught a glimpse of two or three in the trees and lakes near the road. Our stop in Hokitika itself was informative and longer than originally planned, so we had to think again about where we could stop for the evening as we would not be able to make it to Hanmer Springs. Whilst thinking about this we started towards the Pancake Rocks, which are an unusual limestone formation on the coast. Unfortunately, we arrived shortly after high-tide, but we still managed to get some fairly impressive pictures. As we were leaving Tor couldn't help but think they were missing a golden opportunity by not having some special event there on Shrove Tuesdays...

(PICTURES TO FOLLOW WHEN WE FIND A SUITABLE PC TO UPLOAD THEM ONTO)