Pancakes

As we rode down the west coast between Westport and Greymouth we felt far from the lush green hills and snow capped peaks that have been the stamp of NZ scenery for the past several weeks. This 80km stretch brought to mind the breathtaking California coast along Big Sur or even Australia's striking Great Ocean Road.  

The road alternated from the high bluffs, which offered far reaching views of the coastline:

to the sea level, which was so close you could taste the salty spray:

Half-way down the coast, at the town of Punakaiki, we stopped for a bit of a pancake breakfast by the "Pancake rocks"! Cheesy, yes, but we'll take any excuse to consume more calories! And speaking of cheese, Ryan even had a chicken & camembert pie after the stack of pancakes. (His fuel efficiency is about as good as that of a Hummer!)

There are "blowholes" in the pancake rocks that supposedly shoot out water quite impressively at high tide. Despite the fact that we were 4 hours early, the waves thundered as they crashed into the rock formations, so I can only imagine the force of the waves later in the day!

A brief break from the saddle to enjoy the view :-)