Date : 24th Jan 2011
Seal Colony, Pancake rocks
Wondering, how did I manage this day. I have no clue about it. Entire new Zealand trip itself a hazy dream now. Days pass, memories fade. Bless or curse? 😉
It was a wonderful stretch covering a long distance from Cape foulwind of Westport to all the way to Franz Josef a sleepy little Miss cute town. Drive was a complete 250+ kms in the meter.
That morning had no clue of the above and started as we checked out Omau settlers lodge. Our first stop was at Tauranga bay. This is one of the most beautiful long beach I have ever seen. Tauranga bay bay connects a trekking path all the way to cape foulwind. During daytime it might offer nice views but at the time of dusk, it might be a view to “click” 1000 times. We parked our car in the deserted car parking area. May be we were too early. We walked towards the seal colony view point. It was a quick 10 mins walk that requires being-fit. Its a rocky cliff that descends to the sea without warning. We are safe with the barriers. It was the time when the seals were observed for statistical reasons and also the breeding time. From that height one should definitely need a good binoculars. For us luckily eyes work good decent enough to catch those seals. On a quick view, it might be hard to find because of the roaring sea and the formation of rocks. However, those active seal pups will be active enough not to sit too long at a place. They look rich velvet black and has a cute face. Its worth a visit to see them at their habitats than in a zoo or in a breeding place.
Sun was acting to test its UV rays capability. Right when I was thinking about it, she proposed a plan to walk a bit towards that trekking path that connects cape foulwind. I have no idea when am going to learn to say the no the-way-I-wish.. 😛 We walked a bit further to see the top of the hillock and a distant cape foulwind. Wind is too brisk here, some efforts are required to keep the hat on.
We hit the road again to join the state highway thorough wilsons lead road. That stretch was quite smooth and exactly I wishes all the roads in the world look same.
Road towards the Pancake rocks (punakaiki) offers periodic views of the sea almost at the every bends. Those bends built in such a way that those roads end right into the sea. Views are breath taking if you drive and look at them. 😉
Punakaiki is just a seashore town that has beautiful rock formations. They exactly lookalike the layers of pancake and named so. It was around noon when we reached there. Its quite easy to miss if you have the foot on the accelerator. We parked our car and went to the visitor’s center to find some maps. However, the park itself quite well splashed with information and maps. It feels like entering into a small dense forest; but in no time you will be presented with the nature’s best of the best work. It has a pit which is of at least 500 meters of diameter and a depth of at least 100 meters. And the best part of that pit has been eaten at the base by sea. And waves gush in and out with the force that none will be comfortable of. This part has human built bridges that connect these rocks easily.
Further walk brings us to the first view of pancake rocks. They were formed 30 million years ago from minute fragments of dead marine creatures and plants landed on the seabed about 2 km below the surface. Immense water pressure caused the fragments to solidify in hard and soft layers. Gradually seismic action lifted the limestone above the seabed. Mildly acidic rain, wind and seawater sculpted the bizarre shapes.
They look as if worn-out by everything but lives to the tell the story of millions of years. Below is whats written there:
The bizarre-shaped buttresses of pancakes we see today are the result of weathering over the pass 100,000 years. During this time, the land has been uplifted to its present-day position above sea level, and the pancake rocks largely stripped of beach sands and gravels that once covered them.
About 125,000 years ago, during the last inter glacial period, the pancake rocks were a beach covered at high tide.
About 5 million years ago, uplift of the limestone from the sea bed started during a massive warping, uplifting and down throwing of the land. This process continues today, pushing up the southern Alps.
About 25 million years ago the limestone was being formed in a different place – on the seabed. Huge amounts of sand and mud eroded from the land, crushing tiny fragments of marine organisms with enough force to turn them into limestone.
About 35 million years ago the creation of limestone began with millions of tiny skeletons and shells of marine animals falling to the bottom of the sea.
While the processes which form limestone are well understood, the reasons why some limestone are layers still have geologists guessing.
Formerly it was believed that sea currents had shuffled material into alternate layers of hard limestone and soft mud stone during the deposition phase.
Now it is generally agreed that the layers are the result of a secondary process called “stylobedding – but some details remain a mystery.
After being buried and compacted, grains of shell and skeleton were put under such immense pressure that they passed into solution. For reasons still unclear, some minerals merged to form thin seams of mudstone between layers of limestone. The forces of sea and weather during the past 100,000 years have eroded the mudstone more than the limestone, enhancing the “pancake”effect.
After understanding that we were standing right in the middle of a graveyard thats been managed by sea millions of years, we were on the road again. I kept my lunch minimal considering the next 200 kms and the beauty it might offer.
Bridges here are built as single lane and obviously the ones come in their way, have to wait until it passes. In few places its, signaled like 5 mins each side. Its nice even to wait at those places. Few single lane bridges are very small that only cars can pass with extreme careful driving.
One of that sort was the bridge 4450 (on taramakau river). We passed through Rapahoe and shortly industrial Greymouth. After a nice long tiring drive, lookout for Lake Lanthe was our stop to refresh and get her out of her sleep. She woke up after observing the car was swaying a bit as it was riding on mud.
It was afternoon and sun was still quite warm. I almost made my mind to take a dip at that Lake Lanthe. I should have done that. I missed that chance really. Water was too clear that we could see the bottom. A lake of that size with clean water will drive anyone to go crazy to take a dip.
Download Seal colony Punakaiki here
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