Cape Palliser

A long weekend was upon us. What better thing to do than spend the morning lazing about, catch some free 'jazz' at Frank Kitts Park in the sun, flip the coin between mountains or sea, then jump in the car and just drive.

We ended up at Lake Ferry. The Rimutakas held the clouds back but not the wind. Exploring the beach left us with sandblasted legs and grit through our hair.


A nights accomodation proved hard to find. The sign on the office said "Office closed. Open 9am tomorrow morning. If you need a tent site, just choose one". Even the local pub was completely booked up. All five rooms. Amazing.

The last option was a "motel". Two cabin like structures. All enquires to 52 Lake Ferry Road (400m down the road). Turns out the wife was down at the pub and the husband had to go and get her anyway.

Don't you love small towns?

Ngawi and Palliser Bay.

What's a roadtrip without random stop-offs to see parts of New Zealand you didn't even know were hiding in your back yard? And celebrating the season that is meant to be spring (a rare occurance of sunshine). From the lookout, the high snow topped peak of part of the Kaikoura Range could just be seen.

The Putangirua Pinnacles - massive rock structures formed millions of years ago (the number varies between 9 and 13 million years ago). A hot sunny day made the view/rocky riverbed walk worth it.

Ngawi

Ngawi is a sleepy little fishing village with a variety of ancient tractors lining the side of the road and sheep roaming around the shore. These ones were 'coming straight for us'.

Cape Palliser

Cape Palliser has a lighthouse with around 250 steps up to the top, and a beautiful view of the bay and the sun setting over the South Island. True to form, it was cold and windy.




The rocky beaches provide a safe haven for one of New Zealand's largest seal colonies.



The seals lounge around, smell alot and generally hide in the rocks to scare several unsuspecting tourists, making them almost fall backwards over the rocks and their girlfriends. Tricksey seals.



The entire weekend was finished with a picnic on the otherside of Lake Ferry. The picnic was purchased from a small town Four Square, where the store's cat took an extreme liking to me and followed me around the store miaowing. Such friendly creatures these small town folk ...


(Photography by Beck and Derek)