Pancake Rocks and Blowholes

Pancake Rocks and Blowholes are 22 to 30 million years old.

Pancake Rocks sit at Dolomite Point near Punakaiki in New Zealand.

Marine shells built up on the sea floor over millions of years.

Upward crust movement about 25 million years ago raised the rocks.

Pressure cemented shell debris into solid limestone rock layers.

Rain and wind weathered softer mudstone away between harder limestone layers.

The flat headland surface is an old beach lifted 35 metres up.

Waves carved sea caves that eroded upward to the surface. Nature's plumbing.

Incoming swells compress trapped air and blast water through the blowholes.

High tide provides the best conditions for viewing the blowholes.

Walkways wind through the rock formations, some carved into stairways.

Pancake Rocks are claimed the most photographed rock formations in New Zealand.