Day 8. Drove to punakaiki, abt 45 min from greymouth. Like the accent they have to pronounce the word. A coastal drive. So this is the west coast. Very powerful waves of the tasman sea crashing down on the water and up against the rocks along the coast. Nicely eroded rocks. The trees were swayed or they grow towards one side as if the strong sea breeze has caused their permanent foliage shape.
Reached punakaiki, pancake rocks and blowholes. Very unique geographical features indeed. Formed from layers of sediments on the sea bed over time and land movement forces the uplift and when they surface above sea level, the mudstone layers are eroded faster than their alternating limestone layers counterpart, thus giving the pancake appearance. Extremely windy and sunny. We had a great time gg snapsnap with the sound of waves as companion. Climbing onto rocks, avoiding the ranger n merv so that i could view the entire sea and coastal rocks from high grds without being nagged at. I wont fall wat, i have good balance. Bleah.
Candid decision to go towards westport. Not enuff time to go even further tho..sad. anyhow went seal colony spotting before reaching west port town centre. A place with seagulls and wekas and of cos seals. Wekas are also named as wood hens i think. 4 species. All are rare and native. Had fun tricking the seagulls, they are smart to chase away their own kind when we feed them with bread. They cawed loudly at other seagulls so that they have the food to themselves. Had fun capturing them in flight. And jus by waving our hands when the bread is all finished, they still responded , thinking that there's still food. Poor birds.
The male seals are so much bigger than the female ones. And they are like logs which tapered at both ends. The females have more shape. Slender. The cubs are cute. Climbing up and down the rocks or even boulders. Nov to jan is the breeding season. So sad they are so far down. Ive to do a 15x zoom. Den to town centre for lunch. Roast chicken platter and iced choc. The cafe has a super nice outdoor seating area in the garden but we sat inside cos the sun was really strong and we didnt have any sunscreen. 2 hrs back to greymouth, the epicentre of the gold rush. Sunset watching at the beach behind our motel.
