Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

At Dolomite Point the limestone headland has weathered into stacks of thin, even layers, so that the rock looks like piles of pancakes left out in the rain; why the stone separated this way is still argued over. A sealed loop path, about twenty minutes at a walk, runs out around the point through flax and nikau palms to platforms above the stacks and the surge channels cut into them. At high tide with a westerly swell running, water forces up through blowholes and out of a collapsed cavern with a heavy boom. The Paparoa Range rises directly behind, and the road here is squeezed between mountains and open sea.

What you actually see

• The layered stacks - the pancake-like limestone formations at Dolomite Point.
• The blowholes - spouts and surges that fire when tide and swell line up.
• The surge channels - narrow inlets where the sea drives in and out below the platforms.
• The coast road - the highway pinned between the Paparoa Range and the Tasman Sea.

When to go

Time the visit to high tide, ideally with a swell from the west, or the blowholes will do nothing at all; tide times are posted at the site. Any season works, and West Coast rain does not spoil the walk since the path is sealed the whole way. Late afternoon puts the sun behind the stacks and out over the sea.

Honest expectations

Out of tide and swell this is a short walk past interesting rock and nothing more, which catches a lot of people out. Coaches arrive in waves through the middle of the day and the platforms are narrow. The village has few services. Rain here is frequent and heavy, and sandflies turn aggressive as soon as the wind drops.

Nearby

Paparoa National Park tracks start behind the village, with Greymouth and Westport an hour either way.