Honeycomb Rock - Wairarapa

28 degrees, blimey! It was a stinkin’ hot day to be walking along the Wairarapa coast for 5 hours but I had already driven 3 hours to get to this location so a few sun rays weren’t going to stop me. Camera bag loaded to the gills, there was no room for water so off I traipsed enjoying a light ocean breeze just after 5pm.

This is an official DoC ‘track’ but you coulda fooled me. Many of the waratahs used as track markers were found laying in the long grass, utterly useless but the walk was between the ocean and a big hill so you couldn’t exactly get lost, just a little off course perhaps. It’s private land so the track is intended to keep you far enough from the baches so you don’t smell the freshly baked apple pies cooling down on the window sills. We all know that would be too tempting to just walk on by so it’s fair enough that the track keeps you close to the ocean. The sign at the start of the walk said “No Beach Access” which was a bit confusing, the track takes you to the beach after all. The whole walk felt like I was being set-up for a trespassing notice but I had my well worn-in tramping boots on and they are also my sprinting boots so it’s unlikely anyone could have caught me once I got up to speed (picture an emu in full flight). The first set of orange markers were nailed to a paddock fence, one side of the fence were 50 cows and the other side long grass and tussock with uneven ground below, perfect for rolling your ankle or twisting your knee. I found out later that I was allowed to be in the paddock with the cows but at the time it felt right to be on the other side. I’ll admit I was complaining a lot, out loud, because there was no one within cooee and it was hot and I was bothered.

I realised I was probably off course when I hadn’t seen an orange marker peg in half an hour and I was on the beach, trying to time the waves as they crashed against the little sea wall in front of me. “Surely this isn’t the flamin’ way”, I said internally, too tired at this point to use energy on a voice nobody would hear. As expected, there was no answer, just a clean pair of heels as I used my impeccable timing and fleet feet to get across the gap and scramble up the bank next to a bach with no name. As I walked away from the bach with no name I spotted a person running in the distance. It was hard to gauge the distance but if the horizon is 3.1miles at sea level from a height of 6’7” then at a guess I would say she was 100metres from me. I waved frantically, she waved back. I walked towards her, she walked towards me… everything was going well at this point. We talked, I laughed loudly to make everyone feel at ease, she showed me photos of my destination, I thanked her, she gave me some handy directions and we parted ways, never to see each other again that day. It was the type of interaction you appreciate when you’re on private land and have no idea where you’re going. She warned me about the loose cannons that lived in the last house on the station. “Don’t go near that last house, they’re loose cannons!”, she said.

That house was still kilometres away so I followed the road most of the way there and just as the house came into clear sight I darted off to the beach, far away from the cannons and their apple pies. This was my favourite beach section of the walk, the rocks were white and the sand dark. That’s contrast! I was making good time, sunset was still over an hour away and I could see the honeycomb rocks at the end of the bay. I took my time here looking for pleasing compositions before making my way up the beach to where I would shoot sunset. The rocks were huge and there were seals, baby seals! I didn’t take any photos of the seals because everyone has seen seals before but believe you me, I’m not making it up, they were there and in good numbers too.

For the next hour I climbed up rocks, climbed down rocks, walked across tussock, hopped over a fence, trudged up a steep hill, ate a banana and wished I had brought the water bottle. Sunset was a beauty with pleasant pastel colours. I rushed around and photographed a few different spots before making my way back to that nice beach I mentioned in the previous paragraph. The colour was still in the sky and overall I was quite happy with the photos I took here.

I decided that there was no way in heck I was walking back along the ‘track’ in the dark, it would have been quite dangerous I think. I made sure I was past the house with the psychos (allegedly) before darting up to the gravel road that runs the entire length of the walk. The walk back was really quick and it felt a bit shit that you aren’t actually allowed to use this road but it is what it is. It shaved an hour off the walk along the DoC track and under a full moon was quite easy to follow (I kept my head torch off to avoid detection).

I do have much unfinished business here so will be back in a few weeks for round 2.