Our next stop was a three hour drive from the glacier to Punakaki where J had rented a four bedroom house right on the sea front. We arrived late at night in the pitch dark so it was exciting to pull the curtains the next morning and see a stunning coast line on our door step. We appeared to be on a cliff top but the edge was hidden by thick scrub. What was even better was the sunshine after two days of solid rain and we were even able to eat our breakfast outside on the deck. We were quickly joined by a very large bird not dissmilar to a Kiwi bird, obviously mistaking John’s toes for a tasy snack it pecked his toe! This was a weka and unlike its glacier mate, is said to be ‘curious’ not ‘malicious’.
We had 3 nights in this beautiful location. At night the roar of the sea was amazing and it reminded me of the north shore of Kawaii and our panoramic views of the very high surf there. I don’t think there are many places along this west coast where you can safely swim, a combination of rocks and surf make it far too dangerous. The local newspapers are full of the deaths by drowning of both locals and tourists. While we were there a local man staged a dramatic rescue of two teenage girls on his surf board. He was driving along in his car and noticed they were in trouble and so drove down to the beach, unhooked his wife’s surf board from the roof of his car, and swam in to rescue them. One girl could not swim well so was wearing a life jacket and she was thrown in to the coast. Her cousin who could swim and wasn’t wearing a life jacket was being dragged under by the rip tides and would have drowned if not for this guy.
So we spent our time gently walking on the beach, admiring the fantastic driftwood and shells and playing boules. A few km away from our house are the famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. You can see why the Pancake Rocks are so named. If you visit them at high tide you see the blow holes in action, an incredible phenomenon! The force of the water and the height of the tide pushes the surf up and great spouts emerge from the hillside. The noise too is absolutely incredible.
The other activity we engaged in here was hot tubbing! A family first, though TJ tells me some clubs in Liverpool have hot tubs in?? It was quite fun actually and as you can see from the photo we had a lovely view from the deck of the sea. The next night TJ increased the temperature to 40C and we struggled to get in and had to pur cold water in the tub. After a short while I began to feel boiled alive and queasy and had to get out – made me feel sympathy for those lobsters!
Can you see our house on the top of the cliff?
The pancake rocks above
My new glacier purchase of a wind and waterproof jacket!
Rory testing its water repellant properties!
Getting soaked by the spray (but not on the jacket!!)
Living the dream (before the temperature was turned up!) – check out the sea behind us!
Here are the boys concentrating on their boules!
TJ is sporting his Christmas present of an aloha shirt from Hawaii. I suspect it may not be aired much in the UK, but its great!
Our lovely house! On the very dramatic west coast….loving the sea views again….
January 14, 2010 at 9:05 pm |
OMG another bloody bird! Eek, remind me not to try NZ for next hol x