Punakaiki

On November 20 my hiking trip started with a long drive from Christchurch over the Southern Alps to the west coast. The landscape went from agricultural plains over massive peaks to a coastline that receives about 21 feet of rain per year. Our guide said take out the ‘s’ in west and coast and you’re left with wet coat, which is what you have on the west coast.



We spent our first night in a small town called Punakaiki (pronounced Puna-ky-kee) a couple hundred feet from the Tasman Sea (above), which flanks this lush and sparsely inhabited coast. The Sea is brutal, crashing into the coast with so much force and cold water that it looks like geysers are spraying from the rock formations.




We visited the rocks after a beautiful spring day of hiking through the fern trees, mud, and sprouting ferns. It was an amazing day with a clear blue sky and warm sun.




This sprouting fern was bigger than my arm. It was HUGE.