Punakaiki

 As soon as i arrived here i felt that this place was going to be special. I was dropped at the top of a hill, and had to walk down past the beach to my hostel. On the way down the view was spectacular ( there are only so many words i can keep recycling to describe how great things were). Ther was an amazing sence of light. It was so bright but it was also hazy. It was really odd, as if someone had decided to get rid of the sun and replace it with a sheet of light behind the horison. The hostel was right on the beach. I found out i had got access to money, and everything was going to be chillin from now on. i dumped my stuff and had a nap and woke up drooling a hour later. 

The Pancake rocks  

It was time to investigate. There was a couple of shops , a cafe and an info centre on top of the hill where the bus dropped me off, so i headed up there. On the way up the hill there was a sign pointing to a place called the Punakaiki Cavern. I had a quick gooes up the steps but it was too dark and a bit stupid to go in without a torch, so i didnt do something stupid for a change. When  i got to the top it was a ten min circular walk around the headland to see the pancake rocks. The rocks are so called beacuse they appear as circular stacks of layered rock. Over millions of years the layers were formed under the sea, rose up and were eroded to what they are today. They were pretty cool. Lots of stacks and shapes heading up to the horison. In some places the plants had taken root on the tops of the rocks, covering them in a lush green. ther were big holes and undercut rocks leading to violent pools where, at high tide they act like blow holes. The next day i wnet there to see it but the girl had told me the wrong time but it didnt matter as they were damn cool anyway. After i had taken in the view i went into the info centre to see if i could hire a torch to investiate the caves with. They 'didnt do hire', so after some long hard thinging of about 2 minutes i decided i couldnt possibly come all this way and not go in the cave. So i bought a headlamp. no lectures please.

The Punakaiki Cavern 

When i got down there i found myself once again alone in the dark. Now this would be a real challenge. The cave goes back 130 meters. I was excited and nervous and wondered what i would find in the dark confines. As i headed in a the light had all but faded i tryed to concentrate on the job in hand and not the gouls lurking in the cave. It was hard to see even with a light but there were some reflective poles which guided me into the first bit of the cave. I went back and over some humps and carried on untill it was a dead end and lots of runnignwater. And there was not much more.Then i herd voices and that was nice. There was a guy and his pop who were staying at the hostel who then came into view. I told them that was it and i turned around. On further investigation i climbed over this big form and found myself in the real cave. it went back and back through narrow tunnels and over piles of rock. It was really cool. It was also a relief to her the others coming in the distance too. There were lots odd fromations where the water had collected minerals as it had decended from the surface throught the rock, and made diffent shapes where it had dripped hung and poured on the rocks surface. As i go to the far end of athe cave it got narrover and narrower, untill i had to get on my knees. It had reached the end and as i looked down i saw the silouette of a large spider jumping up and down. Shocked i, jumped up and let out an almightly scream, blathering someting about, 'i dont like spiders , its jumping arrrrhhhhhh'. It was only then that i realised that it wasnt a spider at all but a Cave Weta, a large cave vicious looking cricket type thing only found in nz. I had also scared it away, when the other people wre trying to find one. Oh dear. As you acn imagine i was royaly pissed off and tryed to find another one. But to no avail. My mission was a success none the less and i headed for the light. At the enterance to the cave you could see the forms more clearly and i even found a swarm of bees nesting in a hole in the roof on the cave. How cool.

I then took a walk along the beach, admired the sunset from the balcony over looking the beach and had a lasy eve on the sofa with my sketchbook.

The next morn i shot up to see the pancake rocks agin as said earlier and went in the cave again to see if i could find more animals. Then, as it was a lovely warm day i goosed around the hostel by the beach, did some drawing and watched the dolpins just off the shore. They were surfing in the waves, and quite small as they were the Hectors Dolphins that are only found in NZ.

My life is a joke and so is the bus company... 

I got all my bags packed up and ready to go as i had a bus to catch at four. It was bit of a walk up the hill so i left nice and early in order not to miss my bus. I arrived at the cafe at the top in nice time. Outside there was a bird called a Weka which looks cross between a duck and a kiwi. As you can imagine its a bit wierd. Lots of the native birds are funny. They have big strong legs, a sticky-outey bum and are flightless. This weka was quite tame and intreguing. It was eating potoato wedges and running round like a loon. No wonder so many of the birds are extinct!!!! 

So anyway, eneough of the bird and more of me. I had previously had a prob with the bus company so i decided to go into the info centre to cheak that it was the correct time i had been given. All was well so you can imagine my horror when i was all ready and waiting when the bus just drove straight past me!!!! I JUST COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. Was i jinxed?? what the hell is going on? So i went back into the info centre and told the guy and asked if there was another bus tonight. He said that was it and the only way to get to Greymouth was to hitch. So there i was trying to hitch, with all the cars going the other way. I had had it by this point and thought i am bloody getting there if tit kills me. I had seen a tour bus parked by the cafe and decided it would be not to cheeky to try and hitch with them. The driver said it would be ok if the tour guy said it would be ok, who siad it would be ok if the people on the tour said it would be ok. And i was to my relief. So there i was thinking 'good god, you just never know what is going to happen next on this trip', trying to surpress a smug smile and hysterics, on tour bus full of holidaymakers from Thailand, looking like the scavy tramp i was. I had to say thanks in Thai over the microphone and answer numerous questions about what i was up to from the 2 women sitting opposite, vis the tour guide who was translating. When the bus driver very kindly pulled right up to my hostel door i felt that it was one of those 'have-to-get-apiture-of-this-as-its-aone-in-alifetime-thing'. So i did...

I so true that no matter what goes wrong, or tries to trip you up so-to-speak, it will always be sorted, and when you look back on it (about 5 mins later in my case), it will make you laugh.