Martinborough and surrounds

Those of you who drink wine have probably heard of the Marlborough region in New Zealand. Well, that’s in the South Island, and we’ll get there soon enough. But I also wanted to explore Martinborough, which I first learned of when researching this trip, and especially because they produce Pinot Noir wines (among others). This town is in the SE area of the North Island.

There are only 2,000 people who live there year round. It was founded in the late 1800’s and for most of its history, it was a rural service town for the nearby farms. When viticulture began in the 1980’s, the Wairarapa region blossomed, and today there are over 30 wineries there.

As we drove south from Napier to Martinborough, we encountered more and more open areas of farm land…

… and increasing numbers of sheep (and cattle). Hills became higher, and here in late summer, they were covered in dry grass -

We tried our best to visit as many wineries as our livers would allow…

… and we were treated to a variety of wines and scenery -

The vines you see above are covered in netting to thwart the birds that would probably clear the vines of the ripe fruit just before the vintners were wanting to pick them.

Also of note in that picture is the sharp contrast between the pines and the bare hillsides. The timber industry is quite large in New Zealand and actively farms trees, replacing whole swaths that have been clear cut.

We were surprised to see so many dairy cattle being raised on the North Island, and were astonished to discover that New Zealand is the #1 dairy product exporter in the world!

We drove down to the southern coast…

… intending to hike (what else?), but the glowering clouds were threatening to derail that. So we first drove down to the southernmost point of the island…

… to visit the Cape Palliser lighthouse -

There were only 235 steps up; so, undaunted, we headed up -

It afforded a nice view back up the coast -

We could see that the gloomy clouds looked to be moving on, so we headed back to the trailhead for our hike. This Cabbage Tree is native to New Zealand, and we saw them all over -

Fun fact: the trunk is so fire resistant that early European settlers used them for chimneys!

Also along the way, we passed some loungers right beside the road -

In the little hamlet of Ngawi, they use tractors to move the fishing boats in and out -

I liked this juxtaposition of new and old:

We encountered a lot of road work going on around the country, but they hadn’t yet started here -

Okay… finally on to the hike. The Putangirua Pinnacles!

For you Lord of the Rings fans, the Paths of the Dead scenes were filmed here. These are composed of conglomerate rock that has been worn over millennia by wind and rain.

I think I know where the idea for the Easter Island Moai came from ;) —

Finally the sun came out!

As dry as the streambed was that we hiked up, the return loop through the forest was quite verdant -

There was a sign at the beginning of the trail that said it was closed, but people posting on the All Trails app said it was doable by scrambling over fallen trees, and watching out for slide areas:

We didn’t think it was all that difficult. :)

Yay! The sun stayed out the rest of the day. (The pink tinged pampas grass is really pretty, but unfortunately it’s invasive.)