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Published: April 23rd 2016
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It’s going to be a rest day (or travelling day) today as we board the Bluebridge Ferry early this morning and head back to the North Island. A cool breeze kept us inside on the journey, so sorry no photos today. Arriving in Wellington and off we head over the Rimutaka Hill to the Wairarapa Region. This is a fairly slow windy climb to about 555m in our motorhome. The highest point of the Rimutaka Range is Mount Matthews at 940m. At the top is a lookout that gives you spectacular views over the ranges and down to Featherston and the Wairarapa Region. The Rimutaka Hill Road was opened in 1856 for Wagon traffic and was the start of the great shipments of Wairarapa’s primary produce. The road has steadily been improved since then, but still a dangerous road and you certainly wouldn’t want to get anything wrong with the big drop-offs. There are plenty of information boards at the lookout with a great photo of the soldiers marching from Featherston over the hill to Trentham camp. The soldiers marched over 2 nights, 3 days to Trentham camp, before embarking for the front. These marches took place from 1915 – 1918.
A fairly impressive memorial stands proud at the lookout to commemorate theses crossings. If you are feel the need to stretch your legs there is a walk to the Rimutaka Trig (45 minutes return). The carpark is just before the lookout on the Wellington side of the hill. This is said to have excellent views over the Tararua Range and Wairarapa plain.
Lake Wairarapa domain is our last stop for the day and night. Lake Wairarapa is situated south of the Featherston township. The Lake is the 3
rd largest in the North Island and is actually only fractionally smaller than Lake Rotorua. It is quite shallow and muddy so no swimming here. Early Saturday morning and a light fog/mist had descended on the Lake. So on with Hunting & Fishing jersey, over the pyjamas and off I wander to take some photos of the derelict jetty and surrounds. We did see a keen fisherman in his waders early the next morning catching some small fish, they looked like Carp! But he was very happy with his efforts.
Masterton Farmers Market is on Saturday, and how can you resist a market. This is a very small market but somehow
we managed to walk away with a selection of yummy Blue cheeses, fresh walnuts, spicy chutneys and a bottle of Kombucha! Heading out of town we bump into some Motorhome friends we made up North last winter. They were also heading for Castlepoint for a few days. I still find it amazing the amount of times we bump into people we know or people who know one of our friends or relatives. NZ is actually a small place or my theory is we are just a friendly bunch of kiwis who will talk to anyone.
Castlepoint……..……I like this place😊. Always wanted to go and now I'm finally here. Castlepoint is on the Wairarapa Coast and about 65kms from Masterton. There is a lighthouse that stands near the top of the Northern end of a reef. The day is stunning, and we have a wonderful campsite high on the hill looking down on the Bay and across to the Lighthouse. Now this is what I call a room with a view😊. Castlepoint is renowned as been very windy and plenty of friends have warned us to be careful where we park up as we might blow over. But the weather
forecast looks good for the next couple of days so I think we are safe.
In the late afternoon sun we set off for a short walk down the beach and out to the lighthouse (built 1912). This is a very popular place with quite a few others doing the same – may have to do with the fact that this is the first day of the school holidays. What great views of spectacular scenery looking out from the lighthouse in all directions. To the South you can see the huge cliff face of Castle Rock and the beautiful lagoon Deliverance Cove. Today the sea conditions are flat but you can imagine the waves that crash over the reef into the lagoon in rough conditions. There are numerous warnings about walking along this rocky reef. Today there were 4 or 5 fisherman perched high up on the reef, we stopped and chatted to them and within 5 minutes that had pulled up 2 Kahawai and a Trevally. It’s cooling down so it’s time to head back to the warmth of the Motorhome and enjoy the changing sky as Sunset approaches. The pretty pink sky was stunning tonight, especially the
reflections on the beach below.
Sunrise on Sunday was a treat, with the beautiful changing orange sky behind the lighthouse. Again I was out in the cold in my pyjamas, but I was not alone as there were a few pyjama clad photographers out today😊. From our “Room with a view” you could see a couple of people climbing up to the lighthouse to catch the sunrise. After breakfast we headed off to do the Deliverance Cove track. The track starts at the carpark down by the Lighthouse end of the Bay. The track passes through Pine trees and along the Reserve boundary to the base of Castle Rock. You get spectacular views over the lagoon, reef, and lighthouse. From here you can scramble/climb the unformed track up Castle Rock. This is pretty dangerous and one slip and you are a goner. I wouldn’t advise attempting in the rain or if it was windy. Lance and I managed to scramble about 2 3rds of the way up and that was high enough for both of us. Great views but we didn’t feel like plunging to our deaths today. So we headed back down the track to the lagoon edge
and along the beach back to the carpark to catch up with friends. I really enjoyed this walk and Lance and I both regret now not climbing to the top of Castle Rock…….maybe next time.
Monday night we drove further up the wild coast to take a quick look at Sandy Bay before heading back to Masterton to catch up with friends. This is one of the big plusses of our travels……………having time to catch up and spend with old and new friends, it’s been great. We are now back in Rotorua for a couple of days before heading off to Whitianga to await the arrival of our 1
st Grandchild, and maybe a bit of fishing😊.
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