The Punakaiki Coast: Hokitika to Nelson (1 page)

Rapahoe Beach, West Coast  looking towards Nine Mile Bluff.
Rapahoe Beach, West Coast looking towards Nine Mile Bluff.

The road really hugs the coast here making its fairly tortuous way through the difficult geology of steep valleys and rocky forested hills.

 

Distances are measured out by Nine Mile, Fourteen Mile and Seventeen Mile Bluff. The cloud was very low and mixed with the spray being thrown up by a heavy swell coming from the Tasman Sea.

 

We passed the sad memorial to the Strongman Mine Disaster. 19 miners were killed by a gas explosion in 1967.

 

The Strongman was New Zealand's biggest coal mine and had been worked from 1939. The state-owned Strongman had to pay out between £200,000 and £250,000 when a Commission of Enquiry found mine regulations had been breached (see Christchurch Library).

Between Fourteen and Seventee Mile Bluff, West Coast.
Between Fourteen and Seventee Mile Bluff, West Coast.

We continued through the tiny settlement of Greigs and then Barrytwon on a narrow coastal plain. A beautiful stand of Nikau Palms between the road and the Tasman Sea came into view. The ones we were looking at were maybe 15m tall so well over 200 hundred years old.

 

The trees had many uses for Maori. The leaves were used for roofing and clothing, the leaf heart and red flowers were eaten and the bark provided useful storage vessels.

 

Due to their slow-growing habit and their reliance on coastal habitats Nikau Palms are under some threat (DOC: Nikau Palms).

The Nikau (Rhopalostylis sapida) is New Zealand's only palm and is very slow growing. It takes 200 years to reach 10m tall. Paparoa National Park, West Coast
The Nikau (Rhopalostylis sapida) is New Zealand's only palm and is very slow growing. It takes 200 years to reach 10m tall. Paparoa National Park, West Coast.
Three Nikau Palm crowns growing just south of Panakaiki Rocks, West Coast.
Three Nikau Palm crowns growing just south of Panakaiki Rocks, West Coast.
Nikau Palms, Flax and Kieke growing as lowland bush at Punakaiki Rocks
Nikau Palms, Flax and Kieke growing as lowland bush at Punakaiki Rocks

The sun had begun to burn off the cloud as we came to the Punakaiki (Pancake) Rocks pull-off. I was by now hungry and ordered a cheese and ham bagel and an excellent cup of coffee. With these in hand I marched around the Pancake Rocks path trying to take photos at the same time.

Flax, bedded limestone and Tasman Sea at Punakaiki Rocks.
Flax, bedded limestone and Tasman Sea at Punakaiki Rocks.

The limestone rocks at Dolomite Point are spectacular. The alternating thin layers of hard and soft rock have created a micro-landscape that looks like it has been cut out by a deranged milling machine.

 

We were early and there were not a lot of people about. The swell booming in from the Tasman Sea was more pronounced here and the wave lines receded way out towards the horizon.

Formed 30 million years ago the limestone and mud sediments were laid down at the edge of the Zealandia continent as it was pulled away from the Gondwana super-continent.

 

Subjected to immense pressure the mud and limestone mix was somehow liquefied and separated out into alternating layers of hard and soft rock.

 

Later uplifted by tectonic forces working along the Alpine Fault boundaries (5MYA) the rock was exposed (first as a beach 125,000 MYA) and then as an uplifted cliff edge.  Wind and water erosion has etched out and defined the layering of the formation.

Pancake Rocks looking south to Seventeen Mile Bluff, West Coast.
Pancake Rocks looking south to Seventeen Mile Bluff, West Coast.
Pancake Rocks and Tasman Sea swell lines, West Coast.
Pancake Rocks and Tasman Sea swell lines, West Coast.
Beautifully arrange ti kouka/cabbage tree (Cordyline australis) at Pancake Rocks, West Coast.
Beautifully arrange ti kouka/cabbage tree (Cordyline australis) at Pancake Rocks, West Coast.
Big Tasman swell breaking around Dolomite Point, West Coast.
Big Tasman swell breaking around Dolomite Point, West Coast.
Limestone stack at Punakaiki Rocks.
Limestone stack at Punakaiki Rocks.
Beautiful micro-rock gardens of flax, hebe, Maori ice plant (horokaka) at Pancake Rocks.
Beautiful micro-rock gardens of flax, hebe, Maori ice plant (horokaka) at Pancake Rocks.
Raised beach sands and pebbles uplifted in the last 100,000 years at Punakaiki. These deposits once covered all the rocks and have been eroded to reveal the limestone beneath.
Raised beach sands and pebbles uplifted in the last 100,000 years at Punakaiki. These deposits once covered all the rocks and have been eroded to reveal the limestone beneath.
The Shore Pimpernel (Samolus repens) growing over rocks at Punakaiki, West Coast.
The Shore Pimpernel (Samolus repens) growing over rocks at Punakaiki, West Coast.
Lush ground hugging vegetation (Maori ice plant and Shore pimpernel) and austere weathered limestones, Punakaiki, West Coas
Lush ground hugging vegetation (Maori ice plant and Shore pimpernel) and austere weathered limestones, Punakaiki, West Coast.
Detail of stylobedding of the Punakaiki limestone and mudstone in-fills.
Detail of stylobedding of the Punakaiki limestone and mudstone in-fills.