Someone told me not to bother coming to New Zealand if I didn’t like hiking. Well, I never liked hiking before but I came here anyway, and now I am planning weekend getaways that include walking some long trails. I am really thankful.
I have to be honest, this likely wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t met people who were keen to go on hikes and walks themselves and invite me on them. I imagine I would’ve done all the touristy things around Wellington that involved little exertion and then fill up the rest of my week with drinks, the gym, and Netflix. Now, I have to admit already happened to some extent, especially while my more active and hiking friends were out of the area. But guess what? They’re back! And that means, I’ve gone on a few new adventures already, I just haven’t written about them up until this point. To start, I want to focus on our trip to Wairarapa, Greytown and Cape Palliser.
To give you a bit of an idea where this adventure took place, it was a 2-hour drive from Wellington to the cape, which is the Southern-most point of New Zealand’s North Island. That drive through the Rimutaka hills is long and winding, but it is also absolutely breathtaking. (For all of my Pennsylvania friends, it’s a similar look and feel as the Pine Creek Gorge area, which is better known as the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. If you haven’t been I would recommend it.) There are hikes through this area as well, but we just stopped at the lookout and kept driving. This is because it was a windy and chilly day, but also because the drive was quite long and we had a lot we wanted to do.
On our way to the lighthouse in Cape Palliser, we stopped in one of the hidden gems in the area: a small village called Greytown. The picturesque town is actually the oldest in the region and is full of architecture and cute, funky shops. My friend Anca says it reminds her of the town Stars Hollow from “Gilmore Girls,” and I would have to say this is accurate. (And now you know exactly how the village feels, don’t you?)
In Greytown, we stopped at an adorable coffee shop called “Cahoots.” It has your standard coffee-shop fare which was tasty but what I really liked about it was the atmosphere. It’s a little nerdy and a lot of fun; for instance the table numbers they give out so you know where the food goes all feature pop culture figures. (We were “G” for Gandolf, and someone next to us was “E” for Elvis.)
The rest of the village was a bit artistic and fun as well. There was a bicycle shop where you could buy a tandem bike if you wanted, a community theatre and a lot of locals who didn’t seem used to “so many” tourists.
Our beautiful drive through the mountains continued, before taking us out to the coast. Here, there were black sand beaches to explore and a rocky area that held some of my favorite New Zealand residents: fur seals and seal pups. There were so many in this area you had to be careful where you stepped because some of them were so still you didn’t realize they were there right away.
After the seals, we continued on our way to the Cape Palliser lighthouse. The lighthouse has sat atop the cliff here since 1897 and is still in use today. Me, being a fan of lighthouses, almost didn’t mind the 253 stair climb to the top of the cliff to see it up close! (However, I would’ve loved to climb more steps to get to the top of the lighthouse itself, but alas, this was not an option.)
Now, with all that adventure in one day, you’d think we would be done, but no, not us! Afterwards, we had one more stop yet to take, and this one was the tastiest. Close to Cape Palliser Lighthouse, there is a tiny fishing town known for its crayfish called Ngawi. It is so small, only about 20 people live in the area year-round. As it was the off-season, the only business we passed that was open was the “Captain Table Food Truck,” which sits along the coast. I bet you can guess where we stopped and how tasty the fresh-caught fish and chips were.
Also in the town, we stopped to check out some adorable lambs. They were adorable, albeit a little dirty to pet. Still, totally worth it.
It was a really good day, and aside from the food and coffee, it was 100% free.
