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Published: February 14th 2009
On the edge
Tim is from Dorset and therefore not in the least perturbed by crumbling cliffs! What a hero!On a very sunny Saturday, we headed out to
Banks Peninusla to visit the
Onawe Pa site. This is situated on an incredible natural promontory/island (depending on the tide) and was established as a Maori Pa (fortified site) in 1831. Unfortunately, in 1832 it was the site of an horrendous massacre of the local tribe by another local tribe and as such is an area that must be treated with much respect. There is little to see now except the stunning landscape, but it is one of those places that looks purpose-built, and in fact, is the sort of natural place man could not really have designed better himself.
On the way we picked up lunch and stopped at
Poranui Beach near
Birdling Flat, which is a pebble beach with no swimming (extremely dangerous rips) but plenty of people were down there fishing. The pebbles were very hot.
We arrived at Onawe, late afternoon, after driving through a very busy
Little River (the annual A&P show was taking place). The sun was beating down and the water was the most brilliant aqua marine. We headed off, first up a steep track and soon realised that we would have been
better off following the waterline until it was safer to start climbing. We went up, along a very precarious cliff top and then very carefully climbed/slid down to sea level again to start the walk proper.
On the top of the Pa site we were thrilled to look down into the water and see a pod of at least three
Hector's Dolphins - black and white, very small and an extremely endangered species, only found in their hundreds off certain parts of the coast of New Zealand.
After our walk we were parched, so we drove up to the 'French Farm Winery' and procured an ice cold bottle of sparkling grape-juice and sat on the terrace taking in the late afternoon sun. Once our thirst was slaked, we dove along the west edge of the harbour, to
Wainui which looks across the water over to
Akaroa.
However, no trip to Banks Peninsula is complete without Kiwi 'fush'n'chups' in Akaroa itself, so we duly drove all the way back around the harbour to procure said delicacies.
On our way home we took the long way and drove the spectacular 'Summit Road' through the mountains and were amazed
as the cloud/fog came down so high up and actually had to turn the car's AC off for the first time that day!
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