Punakaiki & Pancake Rocks
The Pancake Rocks - located at Dolomite Point - are columns of limestone resembling stacks of pancakes. At
high tide with a heavy swell running, seawater is forced upwards through
blowholes.
Punakaiki is the service centre for the Paparoa National Park - 30,000
ha of varied landscape from lush West Coast native rainforest and mountain tops,
to expansive rugged beaches and coastline. The famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes are just a 20 minute loop walk from where
you park your vehicle on the main highway at Punakaiki. Looking like giant
pancakes the curious limestone formations are especially spectacular at high
tide in a westerly sea.
The Pancake Rocks are most spectacular in the Putai area. They were formed 30 million years ago from minute fragments of dead marine creatures and plants landed on the seabed about 2 km below the surface. Immense water pressure caused the fragments to solidify in hard and soft layers. Gradually seismic action lifted the limestone above the seabed. Mildly acidic rain, wind and seawater sculpted the bizarre shapes.