If you haven’t read our last post, we started our road trip in New Zealand south island and the highlight of the first leg of our journey was 180 km drive from Seddon to Hanmer springs. In this post, we’ll continue our journey, through the southern alps to get to the west coast of New Zealand via Lewis pass all the way from Hanmer Springs to Greymouth.
When we got to Hanmer springs the night before, it was raining. Yet we managed to get there right in time to get into Hanmer springs hot pools under the rain and just before they closed down for the day. It did rain the whole night and we went to bed hoping that the next day, the weather would behave in our favor.
We woke up quite early the next morning. It has only been 3 nights since we moved in our campervan and the mornings ritual in the car has been already becoming a new norm. It was still raining and after having a quick breakfast, we hit the road heading toward the West coast. To get there from Hanmer springs, the road goes through the Southern Alps via Lewis pass.
As i mentioned in the last post, in this trip we didn’t have a set itinerary, just a rough idea on the areas that we’d like to see. For the day the rough plan was driving toward the west coast, north of Greymouth to see Pancake rocks if we managed to get there on time and then drive south to the Greymouth and find a quiet camping spot close to the beach.
Pancake Rocks:
Pancake Rocks are located in Punakaiki which is a small community on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, between Westport and Greymouth. The community lies on the edge of the Paparoa National Park. The Pancake Rocks are a very popular tourist destination at Dolomite Point south of the main village.
The Pancake Rocks are a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts through several vertical blowholes during high tides. Together with the ‘pancake’-layering of the limestone (created by immense pressure on alternating hard and soft layers of marine creatures and plant sediments), these form the main attraction of the area. The base of the limestone was laid down and formed between 25 million and 35 million years ago.
Getting there we didn’t know what to expect, apart from some isolated cliffs in the water with an interesting layering effect but getting there, honestly we were impressed with the scale and the beauty of the rock formations. There’s a 1.1 km loop track which can take 20- 30 minutes. It took us almost 2 hours, considering the amount of time we have spent watching the blowholes (Pretty amazing) and taking a few photos and videos. It definitely worth the detour. There’s an i-site, a café and a souvenir shop on the other side of the road and there’s no entrance fee for the site.
We got back to the car park at 5:00 pm and the only thing that we missed was the ice cream 🙂 There was an ice cream stand just before the entrance that we were aiming to visit on the way back but unfortunately all the shops and cafes were closed by the time we got out, including the ice cream stand 🙁
An hour drive south of the pancake rocks, we reached Greymouth, the largest town on the West Coast of the south island. It’s hard to ignore its rich history of mining and jade hunting, while walking around the town with all those heritage buildings including the old hotel, train station, museum and a church. After having a quick look on our campsite finding app we found an interesting free camp site by the beach just outside of the town.
Hokitika Gorge:
The next morning, we left our campsite to get to Greymouth for some grocery shopping. Since Greymouth is the biggest town on the west coast, it was the best spot to fill up the fridge before carrying on driving south on the west coast toward a small town called Hokitika famous for its stunning Hokitika Gorge. The Hokitika Gorge is 33kms inland from Hokitika. The road is signposted the whole way with a tiny yellow signs that say Hokitika Gorge and be prepared for a lot of turning!
The Hokitika Gorge Walk is one of the West Coast’s more popular walks, usually attracting nearly 40,000 people a year. The surreal turquoise waters that drain from the distant Sale glacier, tucked away more than 1219 meters high in the Southern Alps is the main reason for its popularity. Two amazing suspension bridges, one of them built recently, made an easy loop track available. When we visited in November 2020, we only seen few people around.
The loop track took 2 hours including a long stop by the water for Amir to swim. Don’t forget to pack your repellent if you are getting close to the water. Like most of places in New Zealand, sandflies are ready to spoil your experience so be prepared!
After a long walk and a swim, it was time to prepare a full on lunch. The luxury of living in a campervan is having unlimited access to your pantry and fridge in a public parking just after a long walk on a hot day. After feeding ourselves with a feast, we headed further south toward New Zealand famous glaciers. In the next post, we’ll visit glaciers and more together. Till then take care
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Michael Chernishov
December 22, 2020 at 4:27amNice! We’re planning on heading over to see the glacier in early January.
Michael Chernishov
December 22, 2020 at 4:29amI mean glaciers
akhodaparast
December 22, 2020 at 5:59amGreat, we would love to hear about your family tramping trips. South island is great