Putangirua Pinnacles and Cape Palliser

Sunday, 10/13/2019

Unfortunately, I was not successful in my job search in Wellington last week. So, it was nice to get out of the city on Sunday. I went to Putangirua Pinnacles and Cape Palliser with Dan, whom I met at the hostel and luckily, he has a car. There were also 7 other people that I met through Facebook. Dan picked me up from the hostel at 8 a.m., which was too early for me, but necessary since it takes 1.5 hours to get there from Wellington. We also passed through Martinborough, where I was wwoofing. We treated ourselves to good coffee and scones there. In Putangirua, we had to wait for the others for a while and then we all went hiking. Originally, we wanted to do the long hike of about 3 or 4 hours and stop at a lookout point along the way. But somehow, we missed the turn and ended up at a pretty steep cliff, thinking that the lookout was at the top. So, we climbed up on all fours, only to realize that you can't actually go all the way up there. And it wasn't easy to climb up there because there was mostly rubble, but the view from higher up was amazing. We felt a bit like those people who fall off a cliff because of a selfie, but we all made it back down safely and then found the actual lookout (you just had to walk up normal steps). Well, it was a little adventure for sure.

Later, we drove further to Cape Palliser, which is the southernmost point of the North Island, and there were so many seals on the rocks there. You could get really close to them, they were all just chilling in the sun. So cute! It was worth it just for that!

On the way back to Wellington, we all went out for pizza. It was the first time I went out to eat and I also know why, because a regular pizza costs more than 20 dollars! But it was very delicious!

Anyway, it was a really nice day.

This week, I'm staying in Wellington, but Dan and I are considering going to Mt. Taranaki over the weekend. It's a 5-hour drive, but if the weather is good, we'll definitely do it!