Cape Foulwind, West Coast Drive, Puinakaiki Cavern and Pancake Rock

Westport, Cape Foulwind

KIWI bird?? From far, we actually thought it looked like a kiwi but then this is one 'brave' kiwi bird... asking for food from cars, hanging around humans. LOL... Then we found out it is called Weka, also a native flightless bird about the size of a chicken! Certainly deceiving :) just shorter beaks... hehe

Tauranga Seal Colony*** There's an observation lookout after some 15 mins walk from the carpark. But it is quite far to view the seals, we can hear really clearly the seals' call...

A heron...put off by the rain... like us... GOsh... rain please go away, we only had one sunshine day yday..

Resting area :)

Strong wind = big waves + rain = WET + COLD

The drive from Westport to Punakaiki is really beautiful, despite the raining weather today, like the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Came across this standalone cliff by the road side, and thought we might do some exploring.. There's actually a small cave in there :)

Then we ended up eating our lunch here... under the cliff, shelter from the rain...

Great Ocean Road??

Punakaiki Cavern, free access, located near the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. We need a torch light to hike in but there isn't much to see at all. We just came in to have a look since it's not high tide yet, and to shelter from the rain :P

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks***** Definitely a must go! The rock formation is so special, like pancake stack.. thus the name.. And there are pancakes selling at cafes nearby if you are in the mood!

It's a really nice short walk around the rocks and blowholes, and come during high tide! 

Big hanging arch..

SUper massive blowhole@ Punakaiki!!!

Very nice lookout, we can only imagine how nice it would be when the sun is up. We were there when the tide comes in and the blow hole is just massive! The right timing.. It's bigger than any blowhole we've seen in OZ. If you go during low tide you will be disappointed!

Look at that super BIG WAVES!! Amazingg.....

Really hard to tell the weather in spring. It had been raining on and off the whole day today. And the wind is so strong that it will push us forward sometimes!

True Beauty - Glaciers of NZ