From Westport, we were told, it was an "easy 60 km" to Punakaiki. Because it was so easy, they suggested we take an alternate route that added 14 km and "a bit" of climbing, but took us on a quiet country road instead of busy route 6. We did, and we didn't regret it. Several young wekas crossed our path and we got a much better look at some pukekos (plus, I've gotten Camera+, an app that allows me to crop and enhance some of my overly zoomed photos).
But the ride to Punakaiki was not "easy." There were a couple of good stiff climbs, and I saw temps as high as 86 (F). Finally, we had a lovely fast descent down to the ocean (now we're on the Tasman Sea, along the west coast). Then another, not as steep, ascent to a lookout with a good view of what we'd just climbed.
And we're really in rata country now. The hills have great patches of red blossoms.
Just short of the Punakaiki Resort, we came across this threatening looking cliff overhanging the road.
The resort was quite lovely, and we settled in for a nice shower and a nap. A short walk along the beach before dinner gave us our first look at the unusual pancake rock formations (more about those later).
The next day was a rest day, which had several advantages. First, it allowed the other two bike groups staying at the hotel (Backroads and Pacific Cycle Tours) to get ahead of us. Second, it was raining, and who wants to cycle in the rain? So we went for a walk in the rainforest instead. That was truly magical. Although it continued to rain on and off all day, the dense foliage pretty much protected us from getting very wet.
At every turn there was another marvel. This tree that had eaten a boulder.
Some very tall trees (not quite redwood height, but very tall).
And this one that supported an entire ecosystem along its tortuous length.
Finally, after about an hour and half of walking, which included a pretty good climb over the ridge, we were out of the Punakaiki River valley and into the Pororari River valley. Waterfalls abounded on the cliffs, due to the rain, and the river ran backwards near the coast because of the incoming tide.
After another hour of walking we were back to the road, only 1 or 2 km north of where we started. We'd timed it so that we would be at the Pancake Rocks just about at high tide. These rocks, made of successive layers of limestone, get their name from their appearance, although exactly how they got that appearance is apparently not so clear.
The big attraction, though, is that the many fissures and holes carved out by the water provide some spectacular entertainment as the wind and the tide push large waves through the holes, resulting in fountains of water and loud whooshes of sound. I tried to get the next 4 pictures side by side, but Blogsy defeated me. At any rate, they're in the right order, a minor triumph.
After the walk and the Pancake Rocks, we were fairly tired and definitely damp, so we repaired to our room and recouped for a bit. But we were not yet done. We took our headlights and walked back to a roadside cave we'd spotted and did a little spelunking.
A bit hard to photograph inside, but with the help of two bike headlights and the flash (plus another very cool app, AutoStitch), we did get a few good photos.
All in all, a delightful day, despite the rain.
This morning, on the other hand, dawned much colder (in the 50's) and raining hard. Plus the wind was howling along, fortunately from the north. After breakfast and some consultation, we bundled up in everything waterproof we had with and headed off into the gale. It was quite a ride. We sailed along at 30 kph (about 18 mph) for a bit, but had a few hills to contend with and the traffic was awful. For some reason, the truckers gave us no quarter at all today, and with the wind from them and the weather, it got pretty tricky staying on the road at times. At one point, we rounded a gully (gushing waterfall to the left, steep drop to the right), crossed a one-lane bridge in a terrific crosswind, and then finished on an uphill with the wind howling in our faces. David and I both came to an abrupt stop, no longer able to make headway at all. Even off the bikes and pushing it was hard to go forward. Finally, we got up around the bend and pulled over just in time for the rain to come bucketing down. Oy. Needless to say, we took no pictures and just road as quickly as we could to Greymouth (coffee) and then on to Hokitika. We're holed up here now with the storm howling outside. Let's just hope it lets up a bit by tomorrow.
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