Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

Description

Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki, Paparoa
National Park, West Coast

The famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes are just a 20 minute loop walk from where you park your vehicle on the main highway at Punakaiki. Looking like giant pancakes the curious limestone formations are especially spectacular at high tide in a westerly sea.

Take the left-hand branch at the first fork. It passes through a dark canopy of wind-shorn coastal forest where there are fine examples of nikau - New Zealand’s only native palm. Tree ferns and kiekie vine feature among the tangle of subtropical species closer to the forest floor. In clear weather Aoraki//Mt Cook and other high peaks of the Southern Alps make a picture in the far south.

Blowholes

At the first fork on the track listen for the sound of activity at the Sudden Sound Blowhole a few metres straight ahead. This blowhole only sprays when the sea is very rough but it does emit a noise like a train in a tunnel as the sea surges through subterranean passages.

To the left of the fork the track descends to the Surge Pool where you look down on a dramatic spectacle as the sea powers in underneath, sometimes through a huge build-up of foam.

Nearby, the Chimney Pot Blowhole emits columns of spray as the sea gushes in through a narrow rock channel.

The track crosses a bridge between pot and pool and climbs to a viewpoint above Putai - the biggest blowhole. Putai is more a fissure than a hole. When the sea thunders through the caverns below, a mixture of compressed water and air escapes upward as a wall of spray, visible for a long distance on stormy days.

The archway

A stepped section of track, quite steep in places, leads down and across the arched western entrance to the Surge Pool. You can avoid the steps and turn back here, then turn left at the intersection beyond the bridge to rejoin the track back to the highway.

Various rock stacks are very picturesque in the sea out from the arch.

More steps lead to two viewpoints – Pororari Beach to the north and the Surge pool to the south.

On the return journey the track re-enters the coastal forest, dark and mysterious after the open seascapes.

The area abounds with marine mammals, bird life, mountain views and coastal forest.

Plan and prepare

Because the return track suddenly emerges on the highway make sure children are not running ahead. A lifebelt near Sudden Sound Blowhole reminds us it is very dangerous to stray from the track and to take special care of children – keep to the formed path and do not go beyond safety barriers.

Dogs and other domestic animals are not permitted in this area.