Winding Down in Wairarapa

While you all in America were chowing down on hot dogs on Memorial Day weekend, we went on a day trip to the Wairarapa, New Zealand's wine region, with two of our friends.  Being a really nice region, naturally directors James Cameron and Peter Jackson both have huge estates out there. It was a really fun day, and our friends Kat and Rachel became experts at driving on the left side of the road!

The Wairarapa region includes Greytown, Featherston, Carterton, Masterton, Castlepoint, Riversdale Beach, 
Martinborough, and Lake Ferry which can be seen on this map.

We picked up the rental car around 9:15 and headed out towards Masterton.  As we headed out of Wellington we had to drive along the side of the mountains, and the two of us felt like we were at Machu Picchu again as we rode around the hairpin turns and stared straight down the side of the cliff. All of the crazy turns actually started making Caitlyn feel car sick (deja vu from our whale watching trip to Kaikoura), and Kat's knuckles were white as snow as she gripped the wheel for dear life.  Once we finally got through the mountains, we passed through some very pretty countryside with lots of rolling pastures, sheep and cattle.  We didn't see as many vineyards as we thought we would, though.

The rolling green pastures of New Zealand.  Is the "Green Acres" theme song coming into anyone else's head?

A flock of sheep grazing near some beautiful green mountains.

After over two hours of driving, we finally reached our first destination, Castlepoint.  A tiny little seaside town resting outside of Masterton, Castlepoint is home to some amazing rock formations and a beautiful white lighthouse.  The sea breeze was fresh and crisp after the long car ride, and the ocean was a pretty shade of pale blue.  We met a couple of very friendly Dobermans who were wandering around the parking lot, greeting every person who came their way.  After taking some pictures on the beach, we made our way up to the lighthouse and climbed around the jetty that it sits on.  

The Castlepoint Lighthouse.

Castle Rock.  This awesome formation was formed underwater!

Us at the top of the look-out.

Paul, Caitlyn, Rachel, and Kat on the look-out.  [Photo credit to Kat's camera's timer]

Love these rock formations.

Lighthouse and gorgeous rocks.

The beach and misty mountains.

We would have loved to spend more time wandering around the area, but since it's winter and the sun sets around 5, we had to be on our way pretty quickly.  We drove back inland to Masterton, which is the Wairarapa's biggest town.  Due to our packed schedule, we only stayed for half an hour to eat lunch in Queen Elizabeth Park.  The park was really nice with a playground, rose garden and beautiful old trees with golden autumn leaves.  Even though we're all ready for summertime, the smell of the leaves and the crunch of them under our feet was quite welcome.

The rose garden in Queen Victoria Park.

Fall leaves.

Yellow roses, yellow leaves.

From Masterton we had an hour and a half long car ride down to Cape Palliser, located on the southern coast of the North Island.  We were trying to hurry and get to the cape so that we would have time to hike up to the lighthouse there before dark. We probably would have been able to if it weren't for the crazy New Zealand roads that we encountered once we were just a few minutes from the lighthouse.  First, the road changed from paved to gravel, which really doesn't sound so bad, but we're pretty convinced that this particular gravel was coated in bacon grease.  Kat was having a hard time controlling the car while driving on it, so we had to go really slow.  As we started approaching the cape, we came to a part of the road with water rushing across it into the ocean below.  This part of the road was literally the top of a dam, and there were several inches of water flowing across it.  With all the trouble we had on the gravel road, we didn't feel comfortable driving across, so we parked on the side and ended up walking down the cape. 

This is the ridiculous dam/road we were expected to cross. We saw a fearless older couple drive across in an RV, though. Crazy!

Kat gracefully trying to get across without getting her shoes soaked.

 I say all of this to explain that we unfortunately didn't have time to climb up to the lighthouse, or get very close to it in fact, before it got dark.  Cape Palliser, however, is home to the largest seal colony in New Zealand, and we were definitely not disappointed in that regard.  As we walked along the road towards the cape, there were seals lying all along the grassy area between the road and the rocky ocean, plus plenty more lounging on the rocks below.  Our up close and personal encounters with the seals definitely made up for not making it to the lighthouse.

Lazy fur seals.

Just starin' at us from the rock.

This one started grunting after we stood there for too long.

The coast.

White waves on black sand.

The lighthouse guiding ships home.

Once we made the trek back to the car, we were all hungry and tired and ready to go have dinner in Martinborough, which was about an hour or so away from Cape Palliser.  Once we arrived in the tiny little town of Martinborough, we drove around the main square to find somewhere to eat.  We were driving pretty slowly, and Kat kind of stopped in the middle of the road for a second so that we could look at a restaurant.  Once we started moving again, we noticed a cop car behind us which then proceeded to turn on its lights.  We were all very relieved when the cop came to the window and said that they were just doing alcohol checks (none of us had been drinking of course).  The funny part was when the cop stuck out the breathalyzer and told Kat to state her address, but she was a little confused and just blew onto it.  The cop said,"No, state your address, please."  Kat started cracking up (she probably seemed like she was drunk) and apologized, saying she'd never done a breathalyzer before.  She got off without a hitch, and all was fine.  Now we have an ongoing joke about Martinborough cops and breathalyzers.  "Looking for a place to eat in Martinborough? BREATHALYZER." or "Stop for a split second in the middle of the road in Martinborough? BREATHALYZER."  You can come up with your own variation.

Us in the restaurant.  You can tell that Paul is a little worn out.  [Photo credit to Rachel C.]

On Tuesday, we had our study abroad program Farewell Dinner.  It was held at this really nice restaurant called the Foxglove which is located on the waterfront.  We all got spiffed up and had a really good time enjoying the bounty of delicious food that was placed before us.  The two of us also tried creme brulee for the first time (Caitlyn really liked it, Paul thought it was good except for the bruleed part on top).  Everyone also received a little prize package with a personal award -- ours was "Best Traveled Pair."  Overall we had a really good time at the dinner, and it made us realize that we only have a week and a half left here in New Zealand!  We're just trying to enjoy it while we can.

Paul (very poorly lit) outside of the Foxglove.

Our very fancy dinner menu,

Rachel C, Rachel G and Kat: our three best friends here!

Us :)

The yummy creme brulee.

Be sure to tune in for our next blog post, which will potentially be out last (sad face) and will be detailing our upcoming trip around the northern part of the North Island!