Pancake Rocks Café in Punakaiki is getting behind blue penguins and other coastal wildlife with some stunning artwork and new donation collection points to support the West Coast Penguin Trust and Predator Free Punakaiki.
Café Manager, Patrick Volk, sees the café as an integral part of Punakaiki – both the village and the wild setting. When he arrived in Punakaiki, he fell in love with the place and its wildlife and has been a supporter of the West Coast Penguin Trust for several years.
However, with growing support for wildlife locally and lots of interest from visitors, he wanted to do more, and he brought in Greymouth artist, Mark Haldane, to add stunning outdoor art to the café.
Mr Volk explained:
“It’s an investment in our wonderful wildlife. Mark has created these striking murals and, out of the goodness of his heart, refreshed our limestone penguins, which now look superb. Visitors love to find out more about the local penguins and wildlife and now, when they’re taking selfies with our penguin art or purchasing pancakes, coffees and pizzas, they can make a donation and support the protection and conservation of penguins and other local native birds.”
West Coast Penguin Trust Trustee and Coast Road neighbour, Leon Dalziel, is a fan of Mark Haldane’s work and of this progressive step by Pancake Rocks café. He said:
“Hundreds of thousands of visitors and thousands of locals will pass the Pancake Rocks Café every year and they will now get to enjoy this fantastic artwork. Many will stop at this café for its delicious pancakes and pizzas and be prompted to find out more about local wildlife and, with donation boxes and the opportunity to donate through smart payWave gadgets coming soon, they’ll be able to support local conservation on the spot.
“The Trust’s partnership with the café has been growing each year and this is a huge and very generous step up from them. Donations will be split 50:50 with Predator Free Punakaiki and it’s great news to have this local and very active business support in our community.”
Mr Volk added that native birdsong had almost disappeared from areas like Bullock Creek just to the north of Punakaiki.
“The silence where before there were tui, bellbirds, fantails and more is so sad. But the Predator Free Punakaiki group are expanding their trapping project and birds are starting to return to this area. We need to raise funds for more traps and we’re always keen to support the West Coast Penguin Trust – we’re doing our bit and we invite other Coast businesses to follow our lead.”
While materials were chosen that would stand up to the harsh coastal conditions, those same coastal conditions are conducive to plant growth! Occasional checks of the fences have been carried out by volunteers and rangers so that any maintenance needs can be identified and remedied. The never-ending need for maintenance is managing the vegetation that can grow through the fence, for example gorse, blackberry and hydrangea, pushing it to breaking point in places, or flop over causing damage from the weight of rank grass, rushes and weeds such as montbretia.
Volunteers recently spent a few hours tidying up the main fence along Woodpecker Bay north of Punakaiki so a big shout out to them - thank you Fiona, Jony, Reef, Katrina, Mandy, Marty, Teresa and Deb! Flax had been pressing down on the fence, but now the fence has been freed up by these wonderful volunteers - and they picked up a fair bit of rubbish too.
Volunteer Natassja Savidge has offered to check and help maintain the Hokitika penguin protection fence and joined Ranger Lucy Waller and Manager Inger Perkins in May to inspect the length of the fence. Some minor issues were found but the main finding was the extent of the vegetation growth that was damaging the fence in places. Big thanks to Natassja!
