After our kayaking adventure in Abel Tasman National Park, we had a couple of travel days down the West Coast of the South Island. What with driving fairly long distances and limited and/or weak WiFi, blog posting had to be delayed. Sorry for the big gap!

We left Nelson and headed south, making some roadside stops on the way. There are so many things to see and tracks to tramp (trails to hike) and tea to drink along the way. And of course there was also the continued adjustment to driving a car on the left, constantly reminding myself that windshield wiper controls and blinker controls are reversed and figuring out what the road signs mean. I finally got the one lane bridge arrows deciphered and was happy about that since most bridges seem to be one lane and it’s good to know who has the right of way. With mostly rain during our travels, concentrating on the road was key and the stops were nice breaks.

Here’s a map of the area where we were traveling and some places we stopped along the way:

Fox River, Seal Island and Kaipakati Point:

The Fox River Sunday Market, a little roadside farmer’s market that seemed a bit sad but really was quite festive when we got in and talked to people. There was a coffee and tea cart and the owners were lovely and also gave us a hot cross bun to go with our tea. They also told us about how devastating the cyclones have been this year, part of the reason everything looked so sad. They’d been hit very hard and are concerned about the increase in destructive storms. They’ve had three cyclones this season along with an extra hot and dry summer. As they said, we’re all dealing with climate change.

We continued south into the Paparoa National Park, making Punakaiki, Pancake Rocks, our next stop along Highway 6 before we pushed on to Hokitika for our night’s stay. Of course the scenery along the way was so beautiful that we made a few extra stops.

Te Miko/Perpendicular Point and the Truman Track:

You can see from the map below that the Truman Track is a nice and short walk through the bush out to a view point. Quite beautiful along the way and when we got out to the point:

Punakaiki, ‘Pancake Rocks’

We made it to Pancake Rocks, so named because of the limestone layers formed by the seafloor layers being pushed upward through seismic activity. Erosion from wave action has carved them into sculptures and caverns. It’s truly beautiful. I’ve added a video or two and you’ll notice the music in the background. I thought I was imagining it but as we got to a view point there was a man, Steve James, who was playing an inverted steel drum called an Artanga. So beautiful…I had to buy a CD.

The Paparoa National Park was so lovely and we were disappointed that we couldn’t spend more time there. We had hoped to hike more trails that the guide books described as ‘must do’s’ but we were booked in Hokitika and wanted to get there before dark so off we went, no more stops until Hokitika.

Hokitika

This was a gold rush town in the 1860s, likely a pretty wild place with 102 pubs throughout the town at that time. I wanted to come here because of the book, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (winner of the Man Booker Prize). Friends Kip and Carolyn lent the book to me early this year and I wanted to visit the setting. There are sites around town that point out locations referenced in the book. Hokitika is now more famous for pounamu, also called greenstone, green jade. The Maori prized this stone for its beauty and strength so used it for jewelry and weapons. There are many shops now selling some beautiful jewelry, some nice cafes, a Carnegie Library that houses the museum, the Hokitika glass works, some lodging and a nice beach walk. We stayed at Stumpers, a lodging place on the main street and ate at a very popular pizza place called Fat Pipi Pizzas to have their famous whitebait pizza which is an egg mixture with very small (inch and a half) fish with capers, mozzarella and lemon on a garlic buttered crust. Might not sound too appetizing as a pizza but it was delicious! It’s understandable why it’s so famous (besides being an oddity!).

It was another beautiful day although we wished we could have had more hours to explore along the way. I think that’s how many visits to new places are and especially New Zealand. Ah, New Zealand!