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NZ 2015: Blowholes and pancakes
posted : Wednesday, January 06, 2016
Decided to organize this series of posts by destinations, rather than days.
So continuing from the previous post..we left Christchurch at about 3pm and set off towards Punakaiki. Aim was to reach there before 8pm coz that's when the reception at our hostel closes for the day. Thought we were pretty much on schedule coz the drive is supposed to take about 4 hours.
Chris took the wheels when we set off from the rental car depot. Idea was, we could do a swap later on if he gets tired, because he claims that he can't drive too long. Actually, none of us has ever driven more than 2 hours straight...in Sam's case the longest she has ever driven is 20 minutes to a shopping mall near her KL home lol. And she insisted that manual car is easier to drive as compared to auto...?!
Off we go!
But in any case we stopped after a while coz we passed by this small township (there were lots of them on our way like Barrytown which is literally just two simpangs) called Sheffield and there's this shop that advertised "the FAMOUS Sheffield pie" so we thought we would stop and try. Verdict: so-so nia. Was pretty amazed to find that their flavor of the day was satay chicken. In an angmoh country. Eventually find that satay sauce is pretty common in NZ only that it's not exactly the version we are used to.
Anyway Sam took over the wheels from that point onwards and luckily she did because as it turns out, this route via Arthur's Pass was the most windy, slopy route we will drive. She has tendency to get car sick and if she had been at the back passenger seat she would have died. Drivers usually felt least impact. And thus she was driving 60-70kph at bends omg. Not so good for me at the backseat coz even though I never had car sickness, the combination of lack of sleep and being tossed around made me pretty nauseous and I had to close my eyes :/
And it was also raining. Really the worst possible combination. And we had to stop to figure out how to turn on our headlights hahahaha. Really unfamiliar with the configuration of the car - for instance the windshield wiper switches were on the right side and the signals were on the left of the steering wheel. Oh and we never really properly figured out how the air con worked. Just feels like a heater even though we set it as aircon.
Probably one of the first of many, many sightings of sheep. Didn't really stop and get out of the car for photos, coz it was drizzling and we were pretty sure there will be lots more opportunities.
Reaching the west coast after about 3 hours, and drove along the coastline towards Punakaiki.
Accommodation for the night is Punakaiki Beach Hostel. We had a triple sharing room which was good. After two long days I really just wanted to sleep on a proper bed and after supper, a quick birthday celebration for Sam (it's her birthday the next day...Chris and I initially wanted to surprise her with something but we decided there's no way we can smuggle a cake or something under her nose so we had to make our plans clear up front lol) and some quick research work on where to go the next day in the lounge - coz wifi was weak from our room - we knocked out by 10pm. 
Punakaiki Beach Hostel
Heheh.
Our triple sharing room!
Up early at 7 the next morning! We were to catch the blowholes in action and high tide was at 6am or something. The receptionist told us that 8am is still pretty alright so off we go at about 7.30am, a short 5 minute drive from our hostel to the site. More info on Blowholes here, can't be bothered to type out hahah.   
Pancake rocks. Referring to the layers which resembles pancakes stacked on top of each other. If they were found in SG or Malaysia they would probably be called kueh lapis rocks.
Blowhole behind us.
Ahh the video works.
(Not sure how to get rid of the thumbnail next to it though)
Still had a bit of time to kill after that before check out time so we drove a bit and headed down a half an hour Truman Track towards the beach.
 
Heading down the track. Looks a bit creepy actually.
Beach at the end of the track!
Featuring a photobomber.
And had a bit of time so we HAD to do an obligatory picture with our car. And it wasnt easy heh.
Headed back to the hostel to check out, then hung around the lounge/kitchen and had breakfast in peace (coz most people would have left by this time). Next destination is Franz Josef, but we had scheduled a stopover at Greymouth prior to that. Oh yea it was my first drive of the trip and I was pretty excited actually. Eventually we kind of worked out a system where we have a driver of the day rather than keep rotating coz it was kind of bearable, so I would take this day all the way up to Franz Josef.
Greymouth is a pretty nice quiet seaside town actually. About an hour drive from Punakaiki. Not exactly big but it had a couple of major supermarkets, restaurants, shops etc. Somewhat like the size of the Bandar area in Brunei. Parked at one of the 2 hour free parking lots, and we strolled around town before settling for a pizza lunch.
Street scene
Train station
Clock tower.
Seafood pizza lunch!
Post-lunch, we went on what became a daily ritual - grocery shopping. Disappointed to find that things are more expensive than Pak n Save and that's how we realized how good Pak n Save were..totally looking forward to going back to Christchurch for grocery shopping now hahaha. Also pumped fuel for the first time, had to figure out how our petrol tank opens up too - there is no lever near the driver seat. Just need to push it lightly and it will open up. And no need to unscrew the cap too - just need to push the pump nozzle through. Coooool.
Left for Franz Josef proper at about 1pm. Next post!
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