Halfway between Westport and Greymouth there's a quite remarkable cemetery. About 30 million years ago, quantities of dead marine creatures and plants drifted down to the seabed where they were compressed into layers and layers of limestone that alternated with carpets of mud.

Subterranean rumbling and shrugging eventually brought them to the surface where they now stand as spectacular geological formations on the coast — which New Zealand, with typical understatement, has named Pancake Rocks.

They do indeed look like nibbled-at stacks of pancakes, sculpted by wind, rain and sea and, thanks to the efforts of a colony of white-fronted terns, even appearing dusted with icing sugar.

But there's action here too: waves send spray shooting out of blowholes with a sudden whoosh! that makes everyone jump and laugh. And then there's the surge pool, more imaginatively labelled the Devil's Cauldron, where the Tasman rushes in through a hole in the rock wall to seethe and churn in the enclosed space.

PAMELA WADE They look like nibbled-at stacks of pancakes.

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WHY GO?

This is raw nature at its most accessible. There's a well-made loop path through the bush down to the rocks, where you can walk along and around them to get some spectacular views up and down the coast foregrounded by these remarkable layered stacks. You can admire it all as you wait for the blowholes to perform, and then carry on around the rim of the surge pool to watch in fascination as, far below, the waves pour in to break on the rock inside and foam up against the walls. There's always an appeal in being perfectly safe, yet so close to what would be almost certain death.

Then, in spring, you can continue around and marvel at the tenacity of the terns, which manage to hatch their eggs and raise chicks on windswept flat rocks that seem the very worst choice for a nest.

PAMELA WADE This is raw nature at its most accessible.

INSIDER TIP

Keep hold of small children, and watch out for the selfie-obsessives who ignore the warning signs and insist on posing while standing on top of the wall right above that precipitous drop all the way down to the surge pool. Don't be one of them.

ON THE WAY/NEARBY

Back on the road, call into the Pancake Rocks Café, where they have not missed the obvious marketing opportunity, and enjoy a Pancake Stack. You can go walking, kayak or canoe on the river and lagoon, explore underground, ride a horse or have them pull you in a wagon along the beach. Or maybe you'd like to carve some greenstone or forge and hone your own knife? You can do all of that in Punakaiki and nearby Barrytown.

PAMELA WADE Keep hold of small children, and watch out for the selfie-obsessives who ignore the warning signs.

HOW MUCH?

No charge for the walk to the rocks and blowholes, or even for parking.

BEST TIME TO GO

Try to time your visit for high tide, when the blowholes will be operating most vigorously; and a westerly wind is helpful too. Fortunately, that's pretty much a given on the Coast. See punakaiki.co.nz