Category: Wairarapa

Mount Holdsworth,Wairarapa

Walk #184, 20th January 2026

This walk is tucked into the foothills of the Tararua Ranges.

The video actually covered two walks; the Donnelly’s Flat Loop track which was split on either side of the track to Rocky Lookout.

There has been a bit of storm damage but the track is well maintained. The bush here is beautiful but we didn’t hear many birds.

The Rocky Lookout was excellent, with extensive views of Mount Holdsworth and Atiwhakatu valley.

Right now NZ is experiencing a very dismal summer. We would have stopped for a snack at the viewpoint but it was too cold and exposed to linger.

The highlight of the Donnelly’s loop track were the abundant kidney ferns, some were even growing in trees.

The Mt Holdsworth lookout is further up the Gentle Annie track, we stopped at Rocky Lookout.

Walk: Wairarapa 3

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Notes

Further up the Gentle Annie Track is the remains of a pa punanga, a refuge pa. This ridge was a temporary refuge for Maori from the Rangitane tribe to hide from raiding war parties. All that remains are small terraces and basic earthworks

Links

Rocky Lookout

Carter Scenic Reserve

Walk #120, 27th March 2024

This small reserve was bequethed by Charles Carter, an early Wairarapa pioneer. The town of Carterton is named after him.

It’s an area of swamp and semi-swamp forest on two old terraces of the Ruamahanga river. The DOC sign noted that some of the swamp loving kahikatea and totara trees have died since the river changed its flow.

We followed a not-very-well signposted track to the Ruamahanga river and leaving the river we followed a track that skirts the bush. The trees are mainly kahikatea, titoki and matai.

It’s all that’s left of the lowland bush that once covered the Wairarapa plain.

Walk: Wairarapa 4

Links

Carter Scenic Reserve

Carter and his Legacy 

Cape Palliser Lighthouse

Walk #119, 26th March 2024

A walk up some 250 steps to the Cape Palliser Lighthouse on the southernmost point of the North Island. The views are awesome but it was too cloudy to see the South Island on the day we visited.

The 5km stretch of road from Ngawi to Cape Palliser is interesting, there are two concrete fords to drive over. Also a seal colony which we didn’t see.

Stone walled gardens

There were stone walled gardens at Cape Palliser.

… Adkin (1955) drew attention to an apparently high density of settlement in eastern Palliser Bay and found artifacts of typical archaic forms, many of which ended up in private hands or in the Museum of New Zealand collection (Leach 1981). Four burials, one with a shark’s tooth necklace, were excavated at the mouth of the Pararaki River in the 1950s and 1960s (Davis 1959;Cairns 1971; Leach 1981; Walton 1994). Wellman (1962b) describes a wave-cut section about 3 km west of Cape Palliser lighthouse with moa bone (Euryapteryx geranoides) and oven stones near the top. … Source ResearchGate

The land may have been abandoned because of invasion, seismic activity or a tsunami in the 16th century or early 17th century.

Walk: Wairarapa 7

Links

Fur seals, crayfish and bulldozers: Off-the-beaten track in Cape Palliser

Cape Palliser

Cape Palliser 2017 by Drones Manawatu

Putangirua Pinnacles

Walk #118, 26th March 2024

This is another Lord of the Rings location, not as well visited as the other locations. It’s a bit off the beaten track, but the road is worth travelling as it also takes you to the fishing village of Ngawi and the Cape Palliser Lighthouse. There’s a nice camping and picnic area at the beginning of the walk.

Here we walked up the Putangirua stream bed to the pinnacles where the Dimholt Road scenes from LOTR were filmed.

The rock formations are stunning. The tall pillar like formations are known as “hoodoos.” The rock protects the soil from rain and prevents the soft gravel from eroding.

I was here in 2017. I have returned for a second visit in 2024 with my friend Rose
Easter Island?
LOTR, Legolas on the Dimholt Road

Walk: Wairarapa 6

Links

The Lord of the Rings set location #4 – Dimholt Road

The Road Goes Ever On