New Zealand: Punakaiki, Franz Josef and the Wild and Rugged West Coast

 

The trugged Tasman Sea coast at Punakaiki. There are sandy beaches,
but reaching them usually involves a hike.

You've probably never heard of Punakaiki. Neither had we until we started planning our drive around New Zealand's South Island and needed a place to stay between Pohara near the island's northwest corner, and Franz Josef, which would be our southernmost destination on the west coast. Our strategy for trips that involve driving from one destination to another is to try to limit the drives to less than five hours, ideally so that we can leave one place after breakfast and be at the next one in time for a late lunch. We made it to Punakaki in about five hours, after first filling up our Mitsubishi Outlander's tank because once we left Takaka (the closest petrol station to Pohara), there would be no places to refuel until after leaving Punakaki.  Franz Josef is about three hours south of Punakaiki.

If you've heard of Franz Josef, it was probably the Austrian emperor rather than his namesake glacier and town in New Zealand.  The Maori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere, which translates as the Tears of Hine Hukatere, who wept after her lover died there in an avalanche.  Her tears froze and formed the glacier that in 1865 was named in honor of the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I by a German geologist. It and the nearby Fox Glacier make up an area promoted to tourists as Glacier Country. 

At both Punakaki and Franz Josef, the attractions are nature. Punakaiki is little more than a wide place in the road with a parking lot and a visitors center for Pancake Rocks. Not even a petrol station. Franz Josef is a more developed tourist town with a variety of accommodations, a wildlife center, shops and more.  Mountains and beaches and the Tasman Sea add to the area's Born to Be Wild cachet.

Pancake Rocks are oddly layered rock formations cut through by natural arches that the sea surges through. The footpath through the rocks is so easy that most of it is accessible by wheelchair.  Another Punakaiki attraction, a cavern with glow worms, is so dark that Jane and I backed out of it before reaching the total darkness where the glow worms can be seen.  Neither our phones nor our mini flashlights had enough illumination for us to see ahead or to even see our footing.

At Franz Josef, the walk to the glacier viewpoint is steep but short.  There are a number of other trails, including one with a long and bouncy suspended footbridge, that offer dense forests and mountain views.  Franz Josef is in the Southern Alps, and the mountains live up to the grandeur that their name suggests. 

We stayed two nights at Punakaiki at Ocean View Retreat and two nights at Franz Josef at 10 Cottages.  Ocean View has little competition in Punakaiki, and if you get a room with an ocean view (we didn't) it's probably OK. 10 Cottages, which is sort of an adjunct to a more traditional motel, is made up of 10 (probably pre-fabricated) cabins, each with a tiny outdoor seating area.  Restaurants and adventure companies (helicopter rides, etc.) are within easy walking distance. 

There are few choices for food in Punakaiki. We had a breakfast and a dinner (decent burgers) at the Punakaiki Tavern, which is a short drive north of Pancake Rocks and its visitors center. It also seems to be the one place in town that will sell you an unopened bottle of wine. Our other dinner was at Ocean View's restaurant, which was OK but not remarkable.

Franz Josef offers more dining options with several full-service restaurants. The Landing offers casual bar food. It has a huge deck at a prominent intersection. You can't miss it, and it seems to be open when other places aren't. We had breakfast and lunch here.  Our two dinners were at  Blue Ice on a Saturday night and Alice May on a Sunday night. Blue Ice has a view of the glacier and a good seafood menu.  Alice May, which is named for a once-famous murderer and is owned  by her granddaughter, has a more typical New Zealand menu: lamb, steak, salmon. etc. Alice May is just around the corner from 10 Cottages; Blue Ice is maybe a five-minute walk.  

Here are some photos:

A good part of Highway 6 between Takaka and Punakaiki is very close
to the Tasman Sea. This shot is from one of many scenic overlooks.

Sea water flows into a surge pool at high tide
at Pancake Rocks. There are several natural 
arches like this and several such pools.

Supposedly there is no scientific concensus on how the layers of Pancake Rocks came to be
formed, but it's pretty obvious that sea and wind have carved the layered rock
 into the intriquing shapes seen here. 

North of Pancake Rocks is the Truman Track,
a trail from Highway 6  to the beach.

Trumam Track is a fairly flat (by New Zealand standards)
trail that ends with stairways to the beach. The trail
wends through dense forest.

Like many of our days in New Zealand,  Friday March 3 was overcast. This is the beach
at tne end of the Truman Track. We saw  people walking the beach but no one in the water.

The entrance to the glow worm cavern is just north
of Pancake Rocks and on the other side of the
road. From the entrance, it's hard to discern
a path for getting farther inside.

Like us, the couple shown here leaving the cavern, decided their flashlights
weren't bright enough for the task. The extremely uneven floor of the
cavern was more threatening than the sometimes low ceilings.

Personal watercraft race along the Grey River at 
Greymouth, about a half-hour south of 
Punakaiki. We stopped here for breakfast
and to refuel the car on our way to Franz Josef.

There are more than a dozen well-marked trails near Franz Josef and not all lead to 
glacier overlooks. As elsewhere in New Zealand, trailheads have signs that 
give you some idea of how long the trail will take.

The Glacier View trail is relentlessly uphill and has seveal
switchbacks such as this. The downhill return trail veers
off a bit and has stairs to help hikers descend.

The face of the Franz Josef Glacier seems dirty, I suppose with windblown
sand and plant debris.  This was taken with a long lens from the Glacier View
overlook.

This is Peters Pool. It is just off the Douglas Walk trail.

That's not ice. It's white sand and gravel in the
mostly dry bed of the Waiho River. There is a small
trickle of water here, straight from the glacier.

Trails often lead to great views of the glacier.

A suspension bridge over the Waiho River is part of the Alex Knob Track,
which signs say takes eight hours roundtrip and leads to high alpine views. 
The bridge bounces as people walk over it. 

Trails around Franz Josef lead to an old and flooded
tunnel as well as to ponds and mountain vistas.

Another view of the Waiho River's dry and sandy riverbed and the glacier that feeds the river.

The dining room at Alice May in Franz Josef.

We found a coffee and pastry cart at Bruce Bay on the way from
Franz Josef to Queenstown.

Maori Beach at Bruce Bay. The roadway is Highway 6. After this we saw very little
 of the Tasman Sea as we turned inland toward Queenstown.