Boerger’s vacation: Murchison to Punakaiki

After having a great time in the Wellington and Nelson areas, Wayne was finally able to get away from work and fly to Nelson and meet everyone else there. It was a beautiful evening and we drove from Nelson down to the Nelson Lakes area and a tiny town called Murchison. There really isn’t anything in Murchison, but we had booked a small 2 bedroom cottage that was quite cozy and pleasant.

The next morning, I had a mission to deposit a travel bug into a geocache just outside Murchison. This particular bug had originated in Nova Scotia, Canada and had a fishing theme. It is a little fisherman toy and his goal is to travel to cool fishing spots around the world. The Buller River was a perfect spot for him. We got out to the area and found the cache pretty quickly. I then thought we should take a couple photos of the guy before we put him in the cache. To make a long story short, I got a bit clumsy and the toy fishing pole fell off and into the water. I felt really bad but there just wasn’t anything I could do as it fell under a rock in some deep water and I couldn’t even see it. So with help from my Dad, we fashioned a new pole out of a branch and put that in. (After getting back, I emailed the owner in Nova Scotia to apologize and they were really cool about it. He offered to take me fishing if I ever come to Nova Scotia. So maybe Roger and I have to plan a trip that way??) Here’s the before (with fishing pole) and after (me, futilely looking for where his pole fell in).

Leaving Murchison, we drove west and stopped at the Buller Gorge Swingbridge. It is the longest swingbridge in New Zealand at 102 meters, or about 335 feet. Crossing this bridge was quite exciting in my mind, but not so much for Mom and Gretchen. To their credit, they were game and we all made it across fine (and they tried not to think about the trip back). The goal was to do a hike to Ariki Falls, which are more rapids than falls. The map and signs said it would take 30 minutes to get there. We quickly realized that because it had been wet recently, the hike was a bit trickier and longer than we expected.

We did make it and spent about 1/2 hour there. We also happened to be there at the same time some rafters were coming down the river. We then made our way back, via the bridge again of course.

After this, we moved on to the West Coast, coming out just south of Westport. Much of the coastline is reminiscent of Big Sur in California with large cliffs and furious pounding waves. It was a thrilling drive on a beautiful day (rare since the West Coast gets a LOT of rain).

Also along this northern part of the West Coast, near Punakaiki, is one of the most interesting natural rock formations in the world. It’s called the Pancake Rocks. The rocks in this area have gone through a unique process called stylobedding and when eroded by the waves, they look like, well, stacks of pancakes. There are also a number of places where blowholes have been formed and if the tide is high, it can be pretty spectacular. Even when it is low tide, it’s still very impressive.

Next up for the Boerger Trip will be the rest of the West Coast…