Post 34 – SOUTH ISLAND TRAVELS, 2026 [Week 1 – Sunday 28th December 2025 to Saturday 3rd January 2026]

Following Christmas 2025 with Calum and Ali in Petone I had several days before my Cook Strait ferry crossing on my way to 3 months travelling in the South Island, so headed to the Wairarapa to do some exploring.

Sunday 28^th December became fine and sunny as I left the Hutt Valley and headed up over the Remutaka Hill, stopping to view —-

—– the Wellington water storage lakes, and then ——

—– the summit view back down the road toward Wellington.

I explored Martinborough at 10am and found people were still —-

—– breakfasting outdoors at the Hotel.

After lunch at Lake Ferry I set up camp ——

—– at the DoC Putangirua Pinnacles camping area on the south coast and relaxed under the awning with a book for the rest of the day.

On Monday morning (December 29^th) the sun on the —–

—– eroded hillside across the river from my campsite showed promise of the pinnacles to come.

I thus headed out at 7.30 for the Pinnacles Ridgeway Track. The entrance information board said it was a moderate walk of 45 minutes one-way to the viewing point 1.5km away – that seemed quite a long time to walk that distance, and I soon found out why.

The first 300m was along a —–

—– rough boulder/stone riverbed with 2 stream crossings before entering ——

—– a steep climbing track though the bush with dozens of sets of steps, some —–

—— with handrails.

Nearing the track summit I could look back down —–

—– on the eroded hillside across from my campsite (see earlier picture above) and appreciate how high I had climbed.

So, the last few steps of my 1hr 20min trek ——-

—– was up to the viewing platform where the next person to arrive offered—–

—– to take my photo.

The pinnacles were some distance away (the track down in the valley to view them up close having been closed for safety reasons) with my view straight into the early morning sun ——

——- being a little glary compared to the DoC photo ——

—— on the display board at the campsite sign-in station (which shows an afternoon sun view).

So, the walk back down took 1hr and 5 min as I had to take the steep downhill trek slowly and carefully – labelling it as a 45 minute walk each way was pretty optimistic in my view.

Rain set in overnight so my Tuesday 30^th December drive out to Cape Palliser lighthouse via —–

—— the Ngawi bulldozer boat launching area on the foreshore was into rain and buffeting wind.

The lighthouse climb up those steps —–

—— was not a good idea in the wet, so I headed back to Ngawi via a —–

—— roadside view of some of the seal colony.

I stayed at Ngawi foreshore in the freedom camping area until 4pm, but the rain and buffeting wind was quite unpleasant, so I booked into the Pinnacles campground again, and found a really sheltered spot for the night.

Wednesday 31^st December was my visit to Pukaha Wildlife Sanctuary at Mount Bruce. In 1958 local farmer and amateur ornithologist Elwyn Welch secretly raised 4 takahe chicks at his farm, beginning the process of restoring the population of this bird after their discovery in Fiordland in 1948.

Today there are some 8 aviaries housing a range of native birds ——

—– including the Kaka (bush parrot). They can only be viewed through fine mesh netting, so photography is pretty limited. On the other hand a good view of tuna eels —-

—– was available at feeding time.

New Year’s eve was spent at Mangatainoka ——-

——- where just a few freedom campers were overnighting in the riverside reserve across the highway from the historic brewery building.

On New Year’s Day I explored the new Manawatu-Tararua Highway from Woodville to Ashurst, driving over to visit the scenic overlook going west, then returning back eastward to two scenic overlooks before back to the Ashurst side again.

Going west the overlook provided a view —–

—– of a small portion of the extensive windfarm area.

Going back east to view the valley beyond Woodville ——

—– enabled me to visit to this memorial sculpture to three extinct birds, —–

—– the Haast Eagle, —–

—–the Moa and the Huia.

The huge parking reserve —–

—– at the Ashurst end of the new highway is the base for cycling and walking trails along the highway, as well up the old Manawatu Gorge route and neighbouring localities.

I walked over the two bridges at the beginning of the highway, —-

—– first the concrete one over the Manawatu River, and —–

—— second, the steel eco-bridge over the wetland valley below the windfarm ridges. A good one hour plus walk with steps and well maintained tracks.

After freedom camping Thursday night at Foxton the Cook Strait crossing on Friday 2^nd January was the smoothest ever on the Blue Bridge’s Livia. We passed —–

—– the Livia’s sister-ship Connemara near our entry to Tory Channel. Arriving late afternoon in Picton I headed for central Blenheim where overnight freedom camping is permitted in one of the main carparks in town.

Saturday 4^th January I collected travel leaflets from the Blenheim Information Centre, and checked out the historic precinct at Brayshaw Historic Museum Park.

There are some well-presented displays at Brayshaw (such as this traction engine) but out in the back storage area there were hundreds of rusting farm implements which no one is likely to ever restore.

Brayshaw Park is also the base for the Blenheim Riverside Railway, which operates on the first and third Sundays monthly during summer, so this would be my destination for the next day.