The West Coast - Beaches, Pancake Rocks, and Sandflies

Driven out of the Southern Alps by the specter of the mischievous kea bird, we left Arthur’s Pass a day earlier than we had intended and drove westwards toward the town of Greymouth on the West coast.  The non-stop rain slowed, the clouds began to part and when we reached the Tasman Sea, the sun was shining and it revealed a beautiful and rugged coastline.  Words can not describe how much our mood improved with this fortuitous change of weather and scenery.

Our rough itinerary following Arthur's Pass originally had us driving a couple hours south along the coast to find a campground somewhere near the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. But, since we had an extra day, we instead decided to drive north and see a bit of the West Coast that we had not intended to visit.  And...we liked it so much that we decided to stay for three nights!  

Our first stop was Motukeikei Beach, described by NZ Frenzy as “maybe the most dramatic bit of walkable coast on the South Island.”  We agreed with his assessment!  In order to fully appreciate this beach, you need to go at low tide in order to walk past a pinch spot (a high tide would be crashing into some rocks and cliffs and prevent you from passing to the next beach area where the most dramatic features are.)  Luckily we had timed it just right! 

Motukeiki is a mystical stretch of black sand beach dotted with colorful polished pebbles.  The land rises steeply away from the Sea and is dense, lush "bush". And at the spot where the land meets the sea, limestone stacks are strewn about, all in various stages of being eroded and shaped by the ocean.  Here is a nice picture Jen got of the beach from a distance.

While Pete and Lauryn played football...

 

the rest of the family wandered along the coastline.  It was a cornucopia of sculpted rock rising out of the sea.  One of the stacks looked surprisingly like a human face, complete with lush green shrubbery making up the hair atop the sioluoetted face!  Here is Lindsay posing in front of several of our favorites.  

The beach also has a black lava rock tidal shelf (which looks somewhat like the surface of a blackened brain) home to flitting fish, anemones and various shellfish.  Just after Lindsay declared “We are never going to see a starfish here!” Jen spotted a large 11 armed (she counted) orange starfish clinging to a rock. 

   

Pete spied some fish darting about and Lindsay found about 20 variegated smooth rocks to put into her pocket (and of course then gave them to Jen to carry).   All told we spent probably two hours exploring this terrific beach, but had to get a move on to beat the incoming tide lest we get a little more wet than we wanted.

Our next NZ Frenzy destination was the Pancake Rocks at Punakaike.  These are limestone formations along the shores that have eroded into caves, tunnels and funnels, some of which create sounds and splashes when the water fills them. It is essential to come at high tide in order to appreciate the full glory of the place.  So, upon finishing the Motukeike walk with an incoming tide, we drove along to Punakaike and waited for high tide to fully arrive.  There is a nice boardwalk from the carpark that takes you along the shoreline and highlights various aspects of the site, some of which were named.  It kind of reminded us of Yellowstone Park with the named geysers and pools. We all had our favorite formations. Sudden Sound was just a hole in the bush 50 or so meters from the ocean, and occasionally you would hear an abrupt and very loud roar come from this hole as the the waves crashed against the rocks below and created a huge reverberation of sound and the faintest whiff of sea foam.  Chimney Pot featured a rock crevice about 50 feet in height/depth that emitted a puff of spray that looked like smoke whenever the waves built up. Neptune’ s Fury was the best however.  We had to wait patiently for the waves to build up (Lauryn had a talent for predicting when the biggest spray would come) then would hear a koosh/whoosh as the water streamed into the pool, followed by a hiss as it began to blow then a big boom as the water surged upwards in a fantastic spray.  The kids were embarrassed by Jen and Pete’s oohs and aaahhs (not unlike a firework display) but it was pretty awesome.

We decided to camp at Punakaiki Holiday Park, which luckily had plenty of space.  It ended up being a beautiful location with semiprivate camping spaces separated by large lush hedges.  Located right on the beach, we could hear the roaring of the surf in the background.  The rain cleared up and we were able to set up our tents without incident before some mist started to fall.  We bemoaned the lightly falling rain but it cleared up quickly to give way to a gorgeous full rainbow that arced over our heads and above a large limestone cliff as the setting sun shone through the branches of a large rata tree, casting a gentle glow around our campsite. Unbelievable. 

The next day we woke up to sporadic rain so decided to drive into Greymouth to do what most  families do on a rain day-a brewery tour!  Greymouth is a home to the craft brewery division of Monteith’s, a large NZ beer maker.  It was a very informative tour about the history of the company and the process of beer brewing.  It wasn’t that busy so right after we came in the guide “hopped” right to it and started the tour (beer puns are so funny).  At the end, we all got to pour beer from the tap and Lauryn did the best job filling the glass without overflowing (what does that say?) while Jen (who is more of a wine fan) did the worst!  As a small brewery they constantly change the beer recipes and only brew one batch at a time, each batch taking from 6 weeks to 6 months depending on the type of beer. Of course we left with a 4 pack of beer to sample later, and got to have the five beers we poured right then and there.  Good beer!   

 

When we left for the brewery, the clerk at the holiday park told us not to believe the forecast for rain all day, that it would clear, and voila, he was right!  So in the afternoon, we did some hiking right near Punakaiki.  First, armed with headlamps, we went to a short hike that ended at a small cave. We entered about 150 meters and into one large cavern and saw a few glowworms once we extinguished the lamps and were left in darkness.  Then we went hiking on the Truman Track, which is a beach/bush walk.  This was not one of the NZ Frenzy “must see or die” but it was mentioned in the book and we are oh so glad we went. The hike is an easy short 15 minutes walk from the highway  but winds through tropical jungle then through 8 foot high flax plants (green leafy vegetation with large spikes adorned with red flowers) which gives the feeling of a passing through a foliage tunnel.  There was various interpretive signs along the way that informed us about local plants as well.  When we reached the end we were afforded a beautiful vista from below of the limestone cliffs and a lovely waterfall that plummeted 60 feet from atop an eroded limestone cliff directly onto the beach.  We took our shoes off and wandered along the beach but our meanderings were cut short by that dreaded beast- the sandfly, which began to attack any exposed skin, specially our ankles.

We have barely mentioned the sandfly thus far, not because it is not deserving of our attention, but because we would rather not remember.  Yes, every paradise has its downside, and the west coast’s nemesis is a small evil insect that appears so benign yet leaves a nasty itchy bite.  Some places along the coast have sandflies so thick that they form veritable clouds. We had flashbacks to the lake in Minnesota where we spend half our time trying to avoid mosquito bites.  Unlike the unofficial bird of Minnesota, however, the sandflies disappear at dusk so that you are relatively safe at night.  Lindsay got over 35 bites (she has counted) and Lauryn’s left eyelid was swollen by a large bite.  Yes we have used Deet and we are trying to cover all parts of our bodies but these little buggers are persistent.  

Would we recommend this area anyway? YES!