New Zealand - Marahau to Barrytown (or Baz Vegas)

OK - so we'd done the sailing and hiking/trekking yadda, yadda, yadda and it was time to move on down the West Coast where we would end up in Barrytown - although the town bit is slightly misleading....consisted of a pub (where we were staying) and...well that was it really.

Right then - the journey there took us through the Buller Gorge...the most spectacular part of NZ in my humble opinion (West Coast) - wild seas, towering cliffs, snowcapped mountains in the distance - the absolute works, beautiful views whichever way you looked. Although unfortunately through no fault of my own I didn't have my camera for this stretch - I won't name any names...you know who you are - but never fear I got it back the next day. Again somewhere I'll be going back to before I have to leave. Can't really describe it any more than that other than to say Awesome and mean that in the dictionary definition way rather than...Yeah man - Awwwwesome!

Our last stop off before we reached Baz Vegas was the Pancake rocks - one of the most touted things in the guidebooks. Basically the Pancake Rocks are several formations of rocks whereby they are layered on top of each other so it looks like they're towers of pancakes sitting on top of each other. I have shamelessly plagerised the following from another website but we've moved on to the science bit - its educational and god knows most of you need a bit of education!

These limestone rocks began forming 30 million years ago as tiny fragments of dead marine creatures such as bivalve shellfish and other molluscs, creating an even layer of sediment on the seabed. Earthquake action lifted the layers to the surface. The sea, wind and rain have since sculpted the unusual rock formations. As heavy swells thunder into caverns beneath the rocks, huge water spouts blast skywards through the blowholes. When high tides coincide with strong westerly winds, 15 metre foaming geysers can be seen.

And yes there were strong winds and yes I did see the geyser effect - blowholes to the rest of us and yes it was bloody good! I'd recommend this stretch of NZ to absolutely everyone.