Pancake Rocks, Arthur's Pass

Hey everybody,
From Karamea we headed south and stayed at Westport. The next morning we did a walk by the sea at Tauranga Bay here are some pics:

Then we stopped at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. They are yet another neato thing formed by millions of years, limestone and water. 

Then we took the Arthur's Pass over to Christchurch. What a spectacular drive! I saw my first Kea too! (Alpine parrot native to NZ)

Until Next Time!

Karamea area and the Oparara Arches

Ok, so our travel itinerary may seem crazy, but from Kaikoura we headed via the Lewis Pass to the West Coast. We drove up to a place north of Karamea, which is actually in Kahurangi National Park and is one of the ends of the Heaphy Track. It was a beautiful place, we camped right on the ocean. The waves were crashing like crazy into the rocks, the West Coast is crazy.

Mouth of the Heaphy River

Lookout over our campground. Jared and I parked right on the ocean.

Nikau (palm trees)

We also did a walk where we saw lots of beautiful native bush, palm trees and a great lookout. 

In the same day we drove 10 km south to the Oparara Arches. These are a bunch of arches deep in native bush formed by thousands of years, water and limestone. We just spent the whole day on a nature walk, checking out the arches and climbing into caves. 

 

Mirror Tarn- the water makes a perfect reflection

Until Next Time!

Kaikoura, Seals and the Rain

Hey everyone,

We drove from Blenheim down to Kaikoura via the coastal highway. It was a spectacular drive, even in the rain. Being right on the ocean as we drove was really cool. We stopped north of Kaikoura see all the seals on the rocks. The babies are so cute!

We wanted to do some whale watching in Kaikoura but all of the boats were cancelled because of the rain. Oh well, that's travelling for you. The next morning we decided to drive inland to Hanmer Springs. The big appeal here is the Hot Springs- a chance to warm up from the cold rainy weather. I am becoming a bit of a wimp weather-wise and anything below 10 C seems freezing! Here are some pics of the Hot Springs: 

The Super Bowl of Fun....oh yeah

From there we headed to the West Coast via the Lewis Pass. 

Two rivers meeting. Recent rainfall had made one stream run milky and the other was running clear

On the Buller Gorge Swingbridge

Great view!

We made it through the pass to the other side. More on the West Coast in the next blog. 

Until Next Time!