Pancake Day

Trip Start Oct 15, 2007
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Trip End Aug 24, 2008


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Flag of New Zealand  , South Island,
Sunday, March 9, 2008

Having spent the day in Greymouth, we drove a little further north up the coast to Punakaiki, to go and see the geological features. Pancake rocks, as it is also known, is an unusual limestone formation. Nobody is quite sure how they were formed, but the best theory is that alternate petrified layers of hard and soft deposits of dead marine life, once exposed to the elements, have eroded at different rates, causing an effect that looks like stacks of pancakes.

Although the name 'Pancake Rocks' could well be to do with the fact that the formations look like stacks of discs, akin to piles of pancakes, we could visualise another little scene which may be more likely. The Maori name is Punakaiki.

Moustached, pith-helmeted upper class Englishman: "So, what do you call this then?"
Maori: "Punakaiki"
Second, slightly smaller moustached, pith-helmeted upper class Englishman: "What's that? I think he's saying 'pancake-y'!"
Moustached, pith-helmeted upper class Englishman: "Aaah, yes. They do look a little bit like pancakes." (to Maori) "In English, we say PANCAKES. P-A-N-C-A-K-E-S. Good chap." (to Second Englishman) "Caruthers, steal his country, there's a good fellow."
Second, slightly smaller moustached, pith-helmeted upper class Englishman: "Certainly Sir."

We wandered around the coastal path for a while, admiring the rocks and reading the little information boards about how they were formed.

Feeling strangely in the mood for a stack of pancakes and syrup, we decided that it was time to move on.
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