Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks), South Island, New Zealand

September 2015

They're just as wonderful as the name suggests. Most prominently displayed in an outcropping just south of Punakaiki, the Pancake Rocks are one of many delights tucked along the west coast of the south island of New Zealand. The theory goes millions of years ago dead sea creatures and plants alike rested at the bottom of the ocean, pressure-forced into alternating layers of limestone, only to be pushed out of the sea by the ever-changing tectonic plates of Earth's crust. That is all well and good. But the layered rock's overall shapes later cut by years of rain and weathering, the crashing waves that peak through underground caverns, endless flax bushes, and a well-kept trail that connects them all comprise what may rightly be a geologist's dream, but, more so, something to be marveled at by all. The trailhead is quite literally right off the main road and just a short twenty minute walk gives you enough eye candy to last you the whole day. 

Six years ago when Marielle and I came here before, accompanied by four other wonderful individuals, it was raining. It was raining a lot. But seeing as how, at the time, this was a once in a life-time opportunity, a bit of water would not stop us. Valiant though our decision was, it left us very cold and very wet for the remainder of the day as we huddled back, six into a camper van made for three. This time around it was dry. It was early morning and the sun was out. The morning haze still clung to the land's edge, not quite ready to carry on with the day ahead as though lingering in a sleeping state. It was cool, but the sun warmed us enough and we made our way through a brief canopy of trees before a maze of flax bush and the eventual breakfast-food shaped rocks. 

In a way they beg to be looked at. One of a kind, surely, but also because of New Zealand's incredible care at making its natural wonders so accessible. What would be a rest stop with an underfunded bathroom facility along the interstate highway back home has been replaced with just as easy of a pit stop, but with a far better view. Pancake shaped rocks and naturally formed blowholes to boot. Marielle and I, like the morning haze around us, slowly moved along in no particular rush. The blowholes you stand looking down at, waiting for a properly sized wave to bring a bit of excitement and every other twenty yards or so you find another reason to pause and reflect. Some of the rocks, as if uniquely layered weren't enough, have been carved over time into odd shapes like human profiles or snouts of animals. And frankly, just watching the water churn around the cliffs' feet, splashing up and falling back is worth it all the same. 

But after looking at all these slightly less than appetizing pancakes, we wanted the real thing. And it was just our luck that on the other side of the road lies Pancake Rocks Cafe. Their specialty? You guessed it: delicious pancakes probably made more so by a growing necessity to complete the experience with the edible version of what we had come to see. I've had some great pancakes in my life and though these may not have objectively been in the top five, they were exactly what we wanted to finish off a perfect morning adventure. Warm sun, paired with our respective warm drinks, pancakes, and a side of bacon left us happy and content and back on the road looking for whatever would come next.