Putangirua Pinnacles - Wairarapa

Putangirua Pinnacles Track is on the South coast of the North Island. Located on the Wairarapa Coastline near Cape Palliser, these large stalagmite structures featured in The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli rode along the Dimholt Road to meet the Army of the Dead.

Around seven million years ago, the Aorangi Range was an island. As the mountains eroded, scree and gravel were washed down to the coast, where they formed a sedimentary layer.

Over the past 120,000 years, the Putangirua Stream has exposed this ancient layer of gravel to the erosive forces of rain and floods. Some of the sediments stayed concreted together, while others washed away. The result is the Putangirua Pinnacles

There are three routes leading to the Putangirua Pinnacles or the Pinnacles lookout:

1. Walk up the streambed to where the Pinnacles tower overhead.

2. Take the easy bush walk that starts approximately 10 minutes along the streambed from the car park. This leads to the loop track junction and on to the lookout above the Pinnacles.

3. For a more direct route to the lookout, walk up the streambed to the base of the Pinnacles and turn left onto the loop track. This track climbs steeply to the lookout and meets up with the bush walk.

As the day was hot, we chose the bush walk and zigzagged up the bush clad hill to the look out. This took about half an hour.

After a quick snack and quenching our thirst, we continued on the loop track downhill, which was quite steep,  and walked up the streambed to the base of the Pinnacles. 

The trail is not marked along the rocky stream bed. We just wandered up the valley, and the columns greeted us.

Fascinating landscape, and we spent about 3 hours there, wandering around and looking at the rock formation.

About 20 minutes drive further along the road is the Cape Palliser Lighthouse. There is also a bay where the fishing boats are brought in by bulldozers.

A cast iron light house on the cliff, built in 1897. Climbing the 253 steps took my breath away.

The Cape is also home to the North Island's largest fur seal colony.  We spotted some pups along with their parents enjoying the sunshine.