Punakaiki's Pancake Rocks

Published: Dec. 22, 2011, 5 a.m.

The famous Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki resemble a layered stack of pancakes, and caves beneath them open into blowholes which emit spectacular bursts of spray. The rocks are made of limestone – a sedimentary rock that is soluble in rainwater and often forms dramatic karst landscapes of caves, sinkholes and underground rivers.