The Wairarapa

Before I started work three weeks ago I took a couple of days and drove north to the Wairarapa. It was a last chance for a bit of holiday, and also an opportunity to get back in a car after a year and a half. The last time I drove was in Wales in September 2005, and that was over three years after the previous time. It's safe to say I'm short of practice. Luckily I got an automatic so driving was really easy and the roads are, relatively, quiet.

I took State Highway 2 up through the Hutt Valley on a beautiful autumn day. First stop was Kaitoke Park, a smallish woodland reserve which happened to be the location for Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings. I arrived just after a couple of tours groups doing the Middle-earth Tours thing that's a popular tourist option round here. Instead of following them straight to the Rivendell site I walked through the forest the long way. It was pretty and quiet and I was utterly happy in a peaceful sort of way - just me and my camera.





The Rivendell bit was actually fairly disappointing. You can't really visualise it as it was when they had lots of pretty Elvish buildings there. It's nice in a sylvan sort of way, I suppose, but nothing special compared to the rest of Kaitoke. I followd yet another tour group and eavesdropped on what the guide was saying: "Here's where Aragorn stood with the princess ... what was her name ..." Excellent quality stuff. Not.

Anyway I jumped back in my car and headed off again, over the very windy Rimutaka Hill. That caught me off-guard a bit - one minute I was gaily bowling along at 100kph on a nice straight bit of road, the next I was doing 30kph up this great big hill. And the radio reception went.

It didn't take long to get to the Wairarapa, where it was hot and sunny. I checked into the nice little campsite in Martinborough for the bargain price of $12.50 - I paid more for every one of the bottles of wine I later bought - and put up my tent for the first time. It turned out to be slightly trickier than R&E's tent, but I got it up eventually. Though next time I need more tension in the under-tent bit. And I need a groundsheet, which I'd forgotten to buy. Luckily despite rain the night before the ground was bone dry and remained that way.

I left the car and went for a walk, camera on my back with a handy bottle of water which I needed - it was sweltering.





I arrived at the first vineyard, Tirangi, rather parched. The people there were really welcoming and a rather sweet bloke with a bit of a stutter took me through the wine on offer and explained the region to me. The Wairarapa is a newish wine growing region, famous mostly for its Pinot Noir although actually everything is good. It tends to get very hot days and cold nights, which is good for the grapes. Most of the vineyards are boutique and few export outside NZ - in fact even the big New World supermarket here in Wellington doesn't sell any Wairarapa Pinot Noirs, which is insane. Consequently they're not the cheapest wines in the world, but they are very very good. I tasted a couple at Tirangi and on discovering that my clever plan to drive around the next day and buy lots of bottles was foiled by Good Friday licensing laws, bought a bottle of their rose.

Next stop was Ata Rangi, one of the better-known Wairarapa vineyards. A very friendly lady poured me wine and we discussed the weather. I got Pinot Gris from Ata Rangi but was wishing I hadn't got the Tirangi rose because the Ata Rangi stuff was delicious. Since then I found it in my local liquor store. Hurrah!

After that, feeling mellow and happy, I strolled along the road to Muirlea Rise, where my tasting was interrupted by an Irish couple complaining about the very small tasting fee in most of the vineyards. They didn't taste, but disappeared to try and find free wine. They wouldn't have had much luck. I departed with a 2004 Merlot that was being sold off as it was the last of the vintage.

My last vineyard was possibly the nicest. The owner was a cheerful bloke, casual and friendly, who explained that Murchison is a very small family-run affair which makes its wines the old-fashioned way - ie slowly. He was right, too, because his wines all tasted very French in a good way. Like proper Bordeaux. And I tried a delicious sort of liqueur/dessert wine they make from wine and French cognac, which tasted like Christmas pudding. I left there with an expensive bottle of Pinot Noir which went down very well with Easter lamb on the following Sunday!

I faffed the rest of the day. Dropped my wine off at the campsite because it was heavy, had a coffee and read the paper at the village cafe, panic-bought food for breakfast and lunch because everywhere was going to be closed for Good Friday. Then I went to the little arthouse cinema in Martinborough and saw Miss Potter - predictably schmaltzy, but good - and ate lovely pizza with Ata Rangi rose.

Slept well in my tent but it was soaking with condensation when I woke up. Very frustrating - I had to pack it damp. I was on the road before 9.30am heading for LOTR location of the weekend number 2, the Putangirua Pinnacles, or the Paths of the Dead.



The Pinnacles are really one of the coolest places I've been. The rock is very very soft, and crumbles to the touch. They're high, and they're like towers in strange shapes. Well worth the visit. I tried to find the Pinnacles lookout walking back from being among them, but after two aborted efforts to find the path gave up. Both efforts involved me scrambling up increasingly narrow gorges, under trees and over rocks, and I have no idea where the signposted path actually was.

I had a car, and I had time, so the last stop for the weekend was Cape Palliser. At the end of a long coastal road, and 5km of fun fun fun gravel track (ugh) there's a lighthouse and a seal colony.





I enjoyed looking at the seals, although I got growled at by one because I didn't see it lying under a rock and was a bit too close. Made me jump.

Then I drove back, with the radio on most of the way. A thoroughly enjoyable couple of days.