Punakaiki & the Paparoa Experience

Wednesday 29 October

After the greyness, came a blast of sunshine ☀️

We had BookMe half price tickets for the Paparoa Experience so whizzed off to check out the Punakaiki rocks and blowhole again, this time under blue skies… and with my Canon long lens.

The details of the rock striations and the waves on the longer lens was wonderful and although the tide was out so the blowholes were quiet, the light made it all look even more fantastical.

Loved watching the terns up close in their penthouse suites atop the pancake stacks, permanently being sprayed by crashing waves below. Their profile in the air is so distinctive versus the more common gulls - with long flicky tails and slim wings with a gentle V-shape - so elegant.

The Paparoa Experience was awesome - taking us through the Māori legends of this area, the flora & fauna, the fresh waters, the formation of limestone karst caves in the hills and the layers of the pancake stacks and the marine life in the reserve along this unique strip of coastline. It was a brilliant experience - thanks for the tip Tasman Travels guys! I was fascinated by the top disguise of the leaf veined slugs, versus the "hey, look at me" Muppet colours of the tiny Hikupana which hides under mossy logs on the forest floor. The video about cavers exploring the vast caverns and tiny tunnels under the mountains was in turn amazing and terrifying - but so informative. I also had my Insta moment, standing over the simulated blowhole which fired air up at you every 60 seconds, but nothing beats the experience of standing next to the real blowhole and being covered in sea spray as it fires up through the cracks in the rock!

Back to Banjo, we packed up under the instruction of the bossy weka, and hit the road south to Greymouth where we’d picked another freedom camp for the next two nights - Nelson Quay.

Did some work, some laundry (where I met Cleo the smoochy pup, and found a Sallies to raid for another summer T-shirt), Louis found a pool to swim at then we ended the day with a walk out to the end of the quay, dinner in the sunshine then sunset over the Tasman Sea.

Watching the waves crash over the end of the quay was a mix of awe and rapid backpedalling as several almost rained down on us! Back at the Freedom Camp, we found we were a bit late to nab the front row picnic tables so braved the sandflies to eat burgers on the table nearest to Banjo. Since we had arrived around midday the Freedom Camp parking spaces had really filled up.

We had a beautiful double sunset as the sun disappeared behind an upper layer of cloud, bathing us in golden light as it went, then it popped out a few minutes later in the gap between the clouds and the horizon and flung out the most glorious rays of God Speak for a few dazzling moments before dipping below the horizon for the night.