February 06, 2019
Our itinerary today was to drive along the west coast south to Hokitika (estimated 3-1/2 hours drive time). We left Karamea very early to try to catch low tide at Cape Foulwind. Unfortunately the weather was not good. It was very cloudy and raining when we reached the trailhead, so we decided not to go. Instead we drove onward to the car park at the Tauranga Bay Seal Colony. It was still very cloudy but not raining. It was a 10-minute walk to the overlook where we could see many fur seals and their pups lying on the rocks below. It was a distant view, so we used binoculars to watch them. We also enjoyed views along the coastline. Even though it was cloudy, the rock formations were interesting.
We drove further south to the Punakaiki area. Along the way the weather cleared and it was only partly cloudy. We stopped at Irimahuwhero Lookout which had beautiful views of the Punakaiki rocks in the distance.
Next stop was the Truman Track in Paparoa National Park. This was a 15-minute walk down to a small beach that could only be reached a few hours before and after low tide. We made it just in time before the tide came in. There was a small waterfall on the cliff directly above the beach that was fun to watch.
We drove to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and parked near the visitor center. This is where we saw the first tour buses on the South Island. This area was quite popular with many tour groups. The pancake rocks were geologically weird. The rock layers really did look like stacks of pancakes. We stayed in the area for a few hours until high tide, since we had heard the blow hole there was quite impressive during that time. On that particular day it was good for only a few minutes. I think the weather conditions were too calm that day for the blow hole to do much. It had turned into a very nice afternoon with the sun shining.
We drove to the town of Hokitika and checked into the Mountain Jade Backpackers, where we had a room with private bath and a kitchenette. Since it was not too late in the day, after unloading our stuff we drove to Hokitika Gorge. This was one of the stops I had been looking forward to since the water in the gorge was glacial ice melt and supposed to be a beautiful turquoise color. But I was disappointed to find it was milky blue gray on that day. I think the recent rainfall had much influence on the color. Still it was a very nice walk to the gorge. There was a swinging bridge that was fun to cross and had a good view of the gorge.
Next we drove to Dorothy Falls. Access to the falls was via a dirt road that circled Lake Kaniere. The waterfall was right next to the road, so it was a quick photo stop. We continued to follow the dirt road to the west side of the lake, but there were too many trees to get a good view of the lake from the road. We finally got a good view at the lake outlet where the road became paved again.
Back in our room we fixed dinner: chicken curry, peas and carrots, red pepper, and onion. Afterwards we took a walk to Sunset Point. This was the start of the long walk along Hokitika Beach where people were collecting rocks and decorating the beach with driftwood displays. Supposedly it was a place to hunt for jade, but we did not find any.
We watched a beautiful sunset at the northern end of Hokitika Beach. Afterwards we took the heritage walk through town to the glowworm dell. We found a few groves with quite a few glowworms. Their numbers were impressive for such a small area. After enjoying the display for several minutes, we walked back to our room (we brought flashlights so we were able to see where we were going: it was quite dark out by that time).
