Lake Mahinapua (April 23)

We had a few little hikes today that were gorgeous because we were still driving down the coast line. Our first hike was the Truman Track along the coastline. This lead us down into a little cape where you could climb along the rocks and walk around the beach. 

After that we stopped at a rest point to grab lunch and do the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks Blowholes. This was an interesting hike to see all the different rocks and formations they have fallen into as well as the huge blowholes. The rocks are a series of stratified limestone stacks which have been eroded to resemble giant piles of neatly stacked pancakes.

In the next picture see if you can see any of these images

Next we were off to the famous Mahinapua Pub where we met Les. He is a precious 80 year old man who has been running this place for a long time. It was not the nicest of places but it was more about the environment that was created there. Our beds were like hammocks when we laid in them and the rooms smelled of cat piss but we quickly got over that when we served a huge steak dinner with bread pasta cole slaw corn veggies and potatoes.  Not only was the food delcicious but it was also such a treat not to have to cook or do dishes. After dinner we had the traditional costume party at the pub. It was so fun to see everyone dressed up and see what ideas people came up with. Amanda Natasha and I dressed up as a 'pajama party' while Elina dressed up as a bunch of grapes. We had a lot of fun playing pool ad hanging out with everyone.

Cuddles our bus driver

there were hats all over the ceiling 

you can see all the polaroids, every bus that has been there takes one (the walls were covered)

Elina, Tash, Cuddles, Amanda, and Me

The gang (too bad it is blurry)

The one and only Les