Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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Monday, March 03, 2008
Punakaiki. . . West Coast, South Island
Punakaiki has to be one of the most interesting and intriguing places to visit in New Zealand. It's the gateway to the dramatic limestone country of the Paparoa National Park. It lies halfway between Greymouth and Westport on one of the most spectacular coastal drives in the world.
The flight there flies over the Marlborough Sounds... beautiful!
The Pancake Rocks and Blowholes
The Pancake Rocks that Punakaiki is famous for, are limestone formations that began forming 30 million years ago, when lime-rich fragments of dead marine creatures were deposited on the seabed, then overlaid by weaker layers of soft mud and clay.
The seabed was raised above sealevel by earthquakes to form the coastal cliffs and coastline. The sea, wind and rain have since etched out the soft layers to form the unusual rock formations we see today.
When conditions are right, heavy ocean swells thunder into the caverns beneath the rocks and huge water spouts blast skywards through the blowholes in a truly spectacular sight.
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