s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

By Sunday the occasional showers of Saturday had passed, and we decided it was a great day for a road trip and a bit of tramping. We decided to drive up over the Rimutaka range and into the big valley of the Wairarapa. All the ridges and mountain ranges do interesting things to the weather (can you say “microclimate”?), so when we got over the range we found showers lingering on the far side. Thankfully it only ever rained while we were driving, not hiking. In Featherston, the town just east of the range, we switched drivers and I took the wheel. This was my first time driving in NZ since we were last here as tourists 4 years ago. We headed south, down towards the coast.

Checking our New Zealand Complete Road Atlas we noticed a “Place of Interest” icon along the way labeled “Canoes and Taxidermy Gallery” near the tiny little town of Tuhitarata. We had to stop. It was exactly as advertized. There was a farmer, he rented canoes. Plus Taxidermy was a big hobby of his, so he had built a little museum for his own collection. Totally worth the $3 admission! He also would provide a little tin of pellets so you could feed the sheep and deer. Mmmmm, deer spit all over my hand! In the deer paddock was the most pugnacious and nasty goose we have ever met. He had the buck cowed! The farmer and his wife both complained about that gooses habit of having load dominance fits in the middle of the night, and how one of these days they were going to just bash it in the head (and maybe have it for dinner).

From there we made it down to the coast and followed along to the Putangirua Pinnacles. These are really neat formations caused by erosion of the soft clay and pebble soil, making fantastic towers and knife-edged forms. We spent about 3 hours tramping up and about the region, following the advice of the farmer we met earlier we took a really great series of trails which led to one fantasic view after another. The Pinnacles are a great place for hunting the ellusive Sumatran Rat-Monkey. If this reference makes no sense to you, go forth and watch Peter Jacksons movie Dead Alive (or Brain Dead as it is known down here). PJ has filmed so much within a 2 hour drive of Wellington, it is amazing, both for the diversity of landscape and his ability to transmute a scene. Like taking the moutain park behind our apartment (and in the middle of the city!) and use it for the roads of the outer shire in LoTR.

Since we were pretty far south, we decided to follow the road along to its end at Cape Palliser, the southernmost point of the North Island. This involved many kilometers of gravel road, often clinging precariously to a cliffside. Quite a fun drive, especially when we reached the “active slump”. When you build a road into the side of a clay hill and it rains buckets what happens? The road slides down into the ocean of course! In this case the slide was slow, and ongoing. So they simply buldozed a new narrow 1-lane gravel track above where the paved road was slipping into the sea. Very dramatic. Unfortunately due to the road conditions there was no way we could stop and snap some pictures.

A few kilometers before the end of the road you pass through the fishing village of Ngawihi. This is a fishing town on the Cook Straight, in the “roaring 40′s” without a harbor. So every night they haul all the boats up out of the sea using large trailers and bulldozers. Dozens of bulldozers. Many with nifty pain jobs and names. The paint had to be thick to hold off the corrosive effect of the constant sea spray. After much driving we finally made it to the lighthouse at the end, but no longer had the energy to climb the hundreds of stairs up. But we were content gazing out at the ocean, and taking a few pictures. I did notice that by this point we were the only non-4WD in on the road. Ah, the Toyota Echo- an intrepid little beast! It was evening by now, so on our way back north and west we stopped in Lake Ferry, which has the southernmost pub in the North Island. They were packed, but we got into the bar and had some fish and chips. Hot food after a long day of tramping was most appreciated. Then it was the drive back north to Featherston and the Rimutaka crossing, and then south back down the Hutt valley to Wellington and a much needed nights sleep!