On our second day in Martinborough we decided to head down to the southern tip of the North Island around Cape Palliser. After driving through more farmland we left the rolling hills and dropped down onto a narrow coastal road.
The road hugged the coastline for several kilometers giving us great views of the constantly changing landscape. After passing through a couple of tiny hamlets the road changed to a rough dirt track and after negotiating a couple of washed out sections we got a first glimpse of our destination, Cape Palliser lighthouse.
The lighthouse was built in 1897 and had a full-time keeper until 1986. Despite the slightly cloudy weather, we were able to see all the way across the Cook Straight and were just about able to pick out the silhouette of the mountains on the South Island.
After a short walk from the car park at the end of the coast road, we found ourselves at the base of the two hundred and fifty steps that would take us up to the lighthouse.
We made it up the steep staircase with burning leg muscles although for many years the lighthouse keeper would just scramble up the rocks. With this entire coastline being known for strong storms, I can only imagine what it was like climbing up and down the slippery narrow path in bad weather or at night.
Despite only being seventy eight metres above sea level the platform at the base of the lighthouse gave us great views back along the coast towards the hamlet of Ngawi.
Leaving Cape Palliser behind us we made our way back along the coast, stopping regularly to look at the coastline. Although we had pretty good weather, the clouds were moving quickly and the changing light would highlight different parts of the ocean and hills.
We pulled over to admire the view only to notice that the rocks were covered with fur seals. The area around Cape Palliser is known to be one of the largest colonies of fur seals on the North Island and many of them were out on the rocks enjoying the spring weather.
As we stood quietly at the side of the road our eyes became more accustomed to spotting the seals. Everywhere we looked there were seals basking on the rocks, or peering out from behind them. In some of the pools groups of young seals were playing, completely undisturbed by us standing just a few feet away.
We eventually left the seals to play and continued on around the coast to our next adventure.