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Mike Yardley: Epic Encounters at Palliser Bay

Author
Mike Yardley,
Publish Date
Fri, 25 Nov 2016, 6:01PM

Mike Yardley: Epic Encounters at Palliser Bay

Author
Mike Yardley,
Publish Date
Fri, 25 Nov 2016, 6:01PM

There is a savage, raw-edged beauty to Cape Palliser, where the land and sea come to serious blows on the southernmost tip of the North Island.  Friends who have braved the cape during a winter storm swear it’s the best of times, as the monstrous waves, muted colours and misty foam-flecking spray conspire to produce an ends-of-the-earth theatrical spectacle. 

But the summer months offer a more benign big blue sky experience, which I sampled with Stuart Edwards from Green Jersey Explorer Tours. Heading out from Martinborough’s mannered streets of tidy houses, the bucolic drive to the coast shuffled from pastoral plains to undulating countryside. I soon realised why the car rally crowd and two-wheeling weekend warriors swoon over these country roads, interspersed with photogenic little villages, like Pirinoa.

Our first stop was at the Putangirua Pinnacles Scenic Reserve, for the 90 minute return walk to this bewitching rock formation, that made a starring appearance in Lord of the Rings. Steadily climbing through the steeply beech-forested flanks of the hillside, the endurance test was made all the more cathartic by the elevated perspective across Palliser Bay. Arriving at the viewing platform, soak up the cinematic panorama of these hoodoo formations.

 A couple of suitably impressed Rings junkies from Holland were ogling the view as I arrived, merrily ticking off another film location on their grand New Zealand tour. Largely composed of greywacke gravels exposed by rain and floodwaters, harder layers of rock cap these fluted stone pillars, or hoodoos, which protects the underlying soil from the rain and prevents the soft gravels from eroding. They are New Zealand’s most extensive example of hoodoo erosion formations.

Despite being slammed by some of the fiercest weather in the nation, the gritty little fishing village of Ngawi is not deterred from launching their boats into the wild sea in search of a catch. Conspicuously lacking a sheltered harbour, fishing boats are hauled in and out of the sea by an astonishing battalion of bulldozers and tractors, which are as widely varied as the boats they pull. From the stony shoreline, bathed in sunshine and lashed by a frisky wind, I marvelled at this rustic eye-ball feast of workhorses, awaiting their next maritime assignment.

It would have to rate as one of the most novel and unusual coastal curiosities in New Zealand.  It’s like a rendering of industrial-chic shoreline art. You may well have seen Ngawi on the TV recently, without even realising. The much-loved Lotto ad, featuring the father on a fishing boat and his son on a pirate ship, was shot at Ngawi.

The drive along this magnificent coastal stretch to Cape Palliser clings to the soft cliffy shoreline and the steep dry hills of the Haurangi Range, which swoop down to the sea. Perched on a rocky bluff lording over the cape and smartly painted in candy-stripes, the Cape Palliser Lighthouse is a riveting landmark, beckoning you upwards, via the formidable flight of 258 steps straight up the wooden staircase.  I actually found this to be a more excruciating work-out than the walk to the Pinnacles!

The lung-busting ascent felt like hell, but trust me, it’s the stairway to heaven, because the trippy coastal panorama to reward you at the top is utterly rhapsodic, serrated by the snow-capped Kaikoura Ranges across the water. How glorious they looked, even though a week later, all hell was to break loose with the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

Built in 1897, the lighthouse continues to help guide navigation around the perilous cape and rocky headlands. Prior to the staircase being constructed, the lighthouse keeper had to winch his way up the slippery rocky slope, before it was automated from Wellington.  The keeper’s cottage still sits at the base of the stairway.

I was intrigued by the whimsical shapes of the rocky outcrops that stretch out into the bay at Cape Palliser. Stuart informed me that many of the rock stacks are actually lava flows, thrust up on to the shoreline from the network of underground volcanos lurking under the ocean.  These rocks are also home to the North Island’s largest fur seal breeding colony, who contentedly spread themselves across the Cape Palliser’s nooks and crannies. Mothers were teaching their pups acrobatic lessons in the rock pool, while the big bull seals loll about on the rocks, snorting and hollering like pickled members of an old boys’ club after a few too many whiskeys. Keep your distance! 

History lessons seem to lurk around every corner. James Cook named Cape Palliser in honour of one of his naval mates and the name extends across the sweeping bay. Early European sheep farmers drove their flocks around the coast from the Wainuiomata Valley, with the bay serving as their gateway to the sprawling pastoral quilt of the Wairarapa Plains. The windswept beach was the staging post for their produce, whereby the likes of wool bales were hauled out to waiting ships by hardy oarsmen on surfboats. 

Well-endowed with kai moana, Palliser Bay is one of the oldest inhabited regions for Maori, with archaeological sites indicating iwi first settled here in the 14th century. Close to Ngawai, Stuart pointed out the ancient stone walls early Maori built in the ridge lines to protect their kumara gardens. I also marvelled at the gigantic slab of tilting sandstone rock thrust up by an earthquake that iwi call “Kupe’s Sail.” The great explorer apparently rested here and the story goes that that Kupe challenged his companion, Ngake, to see who could complete a canoe sail first. Kupe won, with both sails hung up against the cliffs.

With hunger levels rising, it was over a lip-smacking lunch of the freshest fish and chips at the historic Lake Ferry Hotel, that I gleaned more insights into the region’s indigenous history, where I met Reuben Tipoki. He is launching walking history tours of the area, a fantastic way to immerse yourself in the rich heritage of Palliser Bay. www.wairarapanz.com

Since 2011, Green Jersey have been the go-to guys for hire bikes and cycling excursions through the Martinborough vineyards and beyond. They were on the frontlines of the development of the Rimutaka Cycle Trail. Stuart is now also offering year-round fully guided day excursions in the Wairarapa, including the new Palliser Bay Coastal Explorer. www.greenjersey.co.nz

 While in the Wairarapa, I stayed at another heritage blockbuster, the Martinborough Hotel.  This landmark property overlooking the town square hasn’t forgotten its past, its sense of place nor its reputation for elegant accommodations and paddock-to-plate culinary verve. www.martinboroughhotel.co.nz

Mike Yardley is Newstalk ZB’s Travel Correspondent on Saturday Mornings with Jack Tame.

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