Eastern Palliser Bay
The road from Lake Onoke to Cape Palliser offers dramatic scenery with many attractions.
A rich history of Maori occupation, still evident in the landscape and legends of the area, is overlaid with a history of 19th century seafaring disasters and the fishing village lifestyles of today. The Cape Palliser lighthouse was installed in 1897. Visitors may climb the 250 steps to take in the view from the lighthouse.
The fur seal colony at Cape Palliser is the only one in the North Island where breeding is well-established.
Cape Palliser lighthouse
Access to the rugged Aorangi Range and the network of tracks within Aorangi Forest Park is gained via several major streams. Several of these routes are accross private land and require landowner permission.
Geological features
Geological formations of note include the Putangirua Pinnacles and the coastal Whatarangi Bluff. Active erosion threatens the road below the cliffs, so drive with caution. Many of the coastal rock formations contain fossils. The reefs at Cape Palliser, however, comprise lumpy pillow lava erupted onto the sea floor more than 100 million years ago.
Nga-ra-o-Kupe (the sails of Kupe) are high slabs of rock resembling sails straining to point into the stiff southerlies of Cook Strait. They derive their name from the early Maori explorer, Kupe.
Maori history
Traces of 12th century stone walls along the coastal terraces around Te Humenga Point hint at the extent of prehistoric settlement. These are some of the earliest Maori occupation sites recorded in New Zealand.
Many ancestors of the Ngati Hinewaka people are buried along this coast, making this a very sacred place for the Maori. Visitors are, therefore, asked to treat the area with respect.
Getting there
The road to Cape Palliser
The Cape Palliser road turns off the Martinborough-Pirinoa Road about 50 minutes drive south of Martinborough. It is a further 37 km to Cape Palliser across both sealed and unsealed surfaces.
There is one ford between Ngawi and the Cape. There is a general store at Pirinoa, and a shop at Ngawi sells groceries.
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