The Pancake Rocks are Punakaiki's headline sight: heavily layered limestone stacks, surge pools, and blowholes packed onto Dolomite Point. The loop boardwalk is short and easy, but the scenery is anything but tame when a westerly swell hits the coast.
High tide is best for the blowholes, when water can roar up through the caverns below the rocks. Even at a quiet tide, the shapes, sea noise, and views north and south make this one of the essential West Coast stops.