Cape Palliser (to Featherston)

Wow - it's hard to believe that we hadn't heard anything about Cape Palliser before we decided to visit, except that it is the Southern-most point of the North Island. We hadn't even spoken to anyone who had been there. The drive down through the Wairarapa farmland with the Remutaka Range (formerly Rimutaka) on the right and later the Aorangi Range on the left made the trip very scenic. Then when we reached the sourhern coastal road it was completely  breathtaking- the seas this day were absolutely huge, being bigger than even the locals had seen for quite some time. 

Unusual white cliffs. 

The surf had washed over the road in places leaving swathes of driftwood and other sea debris. We could hardly take our eyes off the huge masses of water being thrown up in patches far out at sea and then the waves rising metres high again as thay approached land.

Heading into Ngawi.

There are some little settlements along this coast road, the largest being Ngawi, but it is really quite unspoilt, most of the baches having been there for years. 

Boat launching area looks like a scrapyard!

As we drove closer to the lighthouse, our destination, the road was particularly narrow with debris and huge sprays of water shooting over it. A couple of 4 wheel drive vehicles ahead of us seemed to be having trouble getting through so we decided to pull off the road in the last place we could to do an inspection. 

No, I don't think we'll take the bus any further!

Our short term travel guides.

Well I think they were admiring the power of the sea rather than having problems but Don & Steve (both landscape painters) & Steve's twin sister in one of the vehicles offered to drive us to the lighthouse rather than take the bus through which was very kind of them and of course we accepted.
We had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery along the way and we couldn't believe how many seals there were just everywhere. Lots and lots of seal pups too - I guess they were all ashore keeping out of harm's way with such rough seas.

101, 102, 103...

We climbed the 252 steps up to the lighthouse and were rewarded with great views out towards Kaikoura before setting out to walk back to our bus which we had already told our friendly driver that we would do.

Seals left right and centre. 

It gave us time to enjoy the views and the seals again and only took us about half an hour.

Settled down for the night. 

You are allowed to freedom camp on the seafront at Ngawi and what a fabulous spot it is.  And toilets, recycle bins, a dump station and a coffee/food caravan all just a few yards away! What value for no money!! Roadies are so spoilt in NZ and we really appreciate it.  By evening we could see that the waves were starting to decrease in height so we weren't too worried about being washed away from our perch right by the rocks and sea. And of course we had to support the locals by having fish and chips from the food van.
It was awesome listening to the crashing waves all night.

The next morning was one of those mornings when I just felt like staying in bed watching the sea, listening to the waves and nursing my cold & cough - it would have been like heaven but unfortunately we had things to do and places to go!

An erect pinnacle!

This time to the Putangirua Pinnacles Walk back down the road.  These are in the Aorangi Forest Park and are particularly geologically interesting being one of NZ's  best examples of badland erosion. They are totally spectacular, consist of large numbers of earth pillars or 'noodoos" and were one of the filming locations in Lord of the Rings.

There is a choice of either walking up the stony riverbed to the base of the Pinnacles or taking the ridge track up to a lookout giving a view across to them. We decided to make it a bit of a circle by firstly walking up the very rough riverbed, occasionally having to jump across the stream, to then stand in awe at the bases of the phallic-like towers rising above us. From there we retreated a little down the stony bed to a track which took us up pretty steeply to the Lookout which again gave a spectacular, but different view of the Pinnacles.

River nymph reaches end of  stoney trudge!

Long climb to here, but great view. 

From there it was mostly downhill to the carpark, the track on the ridge being particularly muddy and slippery in lots of places but we somehow did manage to stay upright. It took us about 2.25 hours and was well worth the exertion.

The next stop was Lake Ferry where the outlet of the Ruamahanga River and Lake Onoke are as Len wanted to try a spot of fishing. However when we got there we found that the outlet had become blocked up with shingle and rocks by the huge seas so we decided to move on and take a look at Lake Wairarapa  which is the 3rd largest lake in the north island. It is only 2.5 metres deep and is known to be brown and very polluted so we weren't expecting much but maybe it was more beige than brown and the farmland around with the sheep and cattle looked good despite it probably being all the cause of the lake's sickness. I'm glad Len decided not to try fishing in it!

After buying a few groceries in Featherston the stop for the night was  the Wairarapa Racing Club where we paid $18 to sleep and connect to power, there being no other facilities. Probably rather dear for winter when you can stay, for instance, at a proper campground such as Greytown for about the same price.  However we were warm and it was quiet with us being the only ones there.