After staying in Fox Glacier for nearly two weeks, we had a bit of catching up to do to make sure we had enough time for the North Island. We decided to miss a few of the towns on the West Coast like Hokitika and Greymouth, and head straight up to Punakaiki where we were only going to stay for one night.
The bus ride took about 6 hours, but it was a nice drive along the coast, and we went through both Hokitiki and Greymouth on the way. We had a lunch break in Greymouth and it was a pretty boring looking town, so I doubt we missed too much.

We arrived in Punakaiki - a small coastal village that is famed for spectacular coastal features and not much else - at around two in the afternoon and took a walk down the beach to the campsite. We were hoping to camp, but when we got there the woman at the reception told us snow was forecast overnight so we changed our minds and went along the road to a hostel. We checked in to a dorm, then went back up the hill to get on the internet. Amy booked the Abel Tasman walk for later in the week, then we went to see the famed pancake rocks.

The loop track along the coast only took about 40 minutes to walk along, but we saw several pancake rock formations, which are quite bizarre. They aren't particularly spectacular, but they literally look like they have been stacked up by someone, and apparently scientists can't quite figure out how they are formed. Along the same track we also saw a few 'surge pools', where waves are forced into open-topped chambers via small openings in the cliff, and the blowholes, which were probably the best feature on the walk.
The blowholes fire gushes of water up through a gap in the rocks when the waves are forced into a small channel. They were quite impressive whilst we were there, but I'm sure they would be better during high tide. We've since heard that when the conditions are right you can feel the ground shudder with every wave.

Once we had finished the walking track we dropped in to the local information centre for some supplies. There is no shop in the village, so we had to get everything there. It was really expensive though, and we ended up paying four pounds for some bread and butter. During our stop in Greymouth we had bought some food for our tea, and it was a good job we had or it could have been pricey!

Back at the hostel we had a quiet evening in. There were only a few people staying, and most people were chilling out in the lounge upstairs. We cooked some burritos for tea, then played board games until bed time.

The next morning we we up to check out by ten. Our bus wasn't until two in the afternoon though, so we played more board games then went up the hill to get on the internet again. It was a good job we didn't camp too because, although it didn't snow, the wind was blowing a gale and I'm not sure the tent would have held up.

Once the bus arrived we were on our way to Nelson. We enjoyed our 24 hours in Punakaiki.