Traveling the Dimholt Road

I had the great luck of being able to borrow a friend's car this past weekend and so decided to get out exploring some of the sights that are slightly further afield from Wellington and not accessible by public transit.  It was also my first time driving since June and I had somehow forgotten how nice a weekend road trip with some car camping thrown in can be.  Ross was off on the South Island helping with a field trip so this was a solo camping/road trip.  I camped at the Putangirua Pinnacles and then rounded out the weekend by going to the Cape Palliser Lighthouse and Castlepoint.  For all of those Lord of the Ring fans/nerds out there, Putangirua Pinnacles is where the scenes in The Return of the King of Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas riding along the Dimholt Road to meet the Army of the Dead were filmed and it is just as awesome as it looks in the movie.

 

I didn't leave Wellington until after noon on Saturday because I had to drop the cat that I'd been watching off at the cattery (yes, that is an actual thing in New Zealand) and then grab my camping gear.  It was a little less than two hours to the Pinnacles.  Since it is fall here and the days are getting noticeably shorter, I started up the trail immediately as the afternoon shadows were already starting to grow and I am well versed at setting up a tent  by headlamp (or head torch, as they are called here).  It is less than an hour up the stream before you find yourself staring up into the canyons and gullies around the base of the Pinnacles.  

The formations are composed of 7-9 million year old gravels that are slowly being eroded by the elements into hoodoos (not a Kiwi-ism, you see these formations in Badlands around the world).  After wandering around in the stream valley for a while, I hiked up to the overlook.  It was steep but short and well worth it.  I then meandered back to the carpark, found a tent site, and set up camp.  The Pinnacles are located along Cape Palliser so I was treated to a gorgeous sunset across the bay with the sun going down behind the Rimutakas (where the Papatahi Crossing is located).

Heading back toward the carpark

I was hiking over there a couple weeks ago...

On Sunday morning, I continued east and made a brief stop at the Cape Palliser Lighthouse, which was constructed in 1897 and is reached after a whooping 253 stairs from the caretakers house.  I got there before the sun had fully crested the mountains (remember, it's fall = late sunrise) and had the place to myself for a while.  It was very peaceful but I image that it must be a bear during storms.  Cape Palliser also has the North Island's largest fur seal colony.  I had completely forgotten this until I was pulling away from the lighthouse and a seal head suddenly popped up out of the grass not 10 feet in front of the car.  Needless to say, I got out and got some pictures.

So many stairs...

Looking west from the lighthouse

Looking southeast from the lighthouse

Look at all of those wrinkles!

From Cape Palliser, I headed up to Castlepoint.  It was a 2.5-hour drive through the countryside on rather narrow, twisty-turny roads.  Castlepoint was named by Captain Cook in 1770 due to the resemblance of 162-meter high Castle Rock to the battlements of a castle.  The lighthouse on the Reef was first lit in 1913 and is one of the last two remaining beam lighthouses in New Zealand.  There are two main tracks that you can take:  the Lighthouse Walk and the Deliverance Cove Track.  Both are short and pretty.  If you are afraid of heights, I would not recommend climbing to the top of Castle Rock, which is a possible add-on to the Deliverance Cove Track.  The Lighthouse Walk has the added bonus of tons of fossilized seashells for anyone who is interested in rocks.

Deliverance Cove and Castle Rock

Looking south down the coast from Castle Rock

The Reef and the Lighthouse from Castle Rock

After I had had my fill of lighthouses and precarious heights, I started the 2.5-hour drive back to Wellington from Castlepoint, arriving home in time for Indian takeaway for dinner.  There was a lot of time in a car over the weekend but all-in-all it was a fun weekend with great weather and really I can't complain too much when I get to get out and explore new places.