Jan. 6

Greymouth to Nelson, via Punakaiki

Continuing our rapid movement up the west coast, we (again) spent most of the day in the car, with a long stop at Punakaiki, home of the pancake rocks.
The rocks have, as the name implies, thin layers which look like they are stacked on top of each other. They have also been well-worn by the sea. In places, waves have carved out caverns at the bottom of the rocks, and eventually worn through the ceiling of the cavern as well, creating a spray up through the rock during high tide.

We drove further along the coast, stopping to see a seal colony, before heading back inland to get to Nelson. There we were meeting our former German roommates, who had just left Wellington (and our apartment) to start their own South Island trip.