Weekend Trip to the West Coast of South Island - Pakihi Walk, Hokitika Beach, Pancake Rocks

Pakihi Walk - View of the Southern Alps
Veron and Hongkai taking a rest and photos
Sunset at Hokitika Beach, opposite Birdsong BBH
Punakaiki Pancake Rocks; waves crashing on the rugged west coast
My shadow with very long legs
Proof that I was there
Departure from Greymouth back to Christchurch

And so after the Franz Josef Glacier walk, we drove about 16km north of Franz Josef township to take in the views of the southern alps. After that, we drove to Hokitika to stay the night at Birdsong BBH. Kerry the lady owner was very hospitable and helpful. And the amazing thing about the hostel was that after 730pm, the 2 owners go home, which means we backpackers are the only ones there. There was no tv but there was a really nice fire place so Hongkai, Veron, Risa(Hongkai's flatmate), Chris (Risa's friend) and I sat near the modern fireplace and played a game of "spoons", which could get violent at times. Risa and Chris had climbed the Fox Glacier that day and they were going to climb Mt Tarua the next day. It was a cold night so I used 2 hot water bottles which kept me sufficiently comfortable for the night, as long as I was under the blanket.

Monday morning, we ate bread with tuna and drank milk for breakfast. Once again, there was frost on the car so we had to use the thermistor and melt the frost. Then we set off for the pancake rocks in punakaiki, 1hr 10 minutes drive north of Hokitika. As it was not high tide, the effect created by the blowholes was not stunning. Apparently, the best time to visit the pancake rocks that day was at 7.30pm, when the high tide conincided with a south west swell, but it would have been too dark and late for us to visit then.

And so we went to eat Subway for lunch (our first meal on arrival was also Subway). Then we boarded the tranzalpine back to Christchurch - journey time was from 1.45pm to 6pm. We were lucky the weather was excellent. It had been raining the past week before our trip but in the end it was fine when we were there.