Lake Ferry and surrounds

Another day and another day trip out and about, this time to Pirinoa, inland and just by the turnoff to Lake Ferry. Lake Ferry is on the shore of Lake Onoke…..I am not sure why the village has a different name to the Lake….Lake Onoke is at the southern end of Lake Wairarapa.

  There is not a lot there apart from holiday homes, homes, an hotel and a camp ground. So much so that I neglected to take a single picture!

From there we headed to Whangaimoana, which is on the coast on the Ngawi side of Lake Onoke.  Here, there were a number of people fishing, either surf casting or torpedo fishing.  Damn, we had left the kite fishing gear back at the van! 

   Whangaimoana looking East
 And looking west

From there we headed for the Putangirua  Pinnacles, which Roy has mentioned in his post the other day here

On our return journey we found this carefully tended grave site of the side of the road so we stopped to have a look.   

 
It is a memorial to 12 seafarers who lost their lives when their sailing ship the Zuleika ran aground offshore here on Good Friday in 1875.  

On the lonely windswwept coast of Palliser Bay, east of Wellington, flowers grow on a large grave. It holds the bodies of 12 men, but few people know anything about its occupants and the tragedy that happened long ago.

In 1897 the Zuleika a 23 year old iron ship had discharged half its American cargo at Duneedin and was to complete unloading at Wellington. At 11pm on April 16 it ran aground in a gael 6km from Cape Palliser.

There were 21 men aboard. All the deck fittings were swept overboard and the crew took to the riggings. Tremendous seas were running and the ship suddenly went under. Those who could swim made for the shore. The rest clung to the wreckage. All that was left in the morning was a piece of the forecastle. Wreckage was strewn over 3km of beach.

12 bodies, bruised and battered almost beyond recognition, were buried near the beach. They were the mate, cook, steward, seven seamen and 2 apprentices of the Zuleika.

Source….NZ Truth, 16 March 1976.
The steamer ‘Tutanekai’ took coffins to the scene of the wreck of the ‘Zuleika’ today (22 April) and 8 of the victims were buried in one grave. The 9th body, that of Alexander McKay will be forwarded to Port Chalmers.

Mr Erai, the Maori, owns the land in the vicinity of the wreck, has given sufficient ground for the burial of the dead and has undertaken to erect a tombstone if one is sent down.

The wreck of the Zuleika in Palliser Bay was sold at auction to Mr Flockton for 65 pounds (stg). In addition to the tins of kerosene and American hardware lying on the beach there is a quantity of fencing wire in the water which it is believed can easily be recovered by a diver. The spars are estimated to be worth about 100 pounds (stg).

Wanganui Chronicle April 1897

A poignant reminder of how rugged this coastline can be. 

  

Ngawi to Cape Palliser

We arrived in Ngawi before Easter and planned to spend about a week there at a PoP (Park over Place) just before Ngawi itself. The PoP is owned by friends of Pat & Steve and is a lovley private and quiet spot which we really appreciated especially when we saw the number of people camped/parked at the free camp spots at Ngawi.  It is an ‘interesting’ drive in to Ngawi, I’ll let the pictures tell that story at the end of this post.

 
 Parked in the very dry paddock

  The view looking down toward Wellington headland
  Map showing Cape Palliser in relation to Wellngton and the South Island
We parked ourselves beside a shelter belt to protect ourselves from the forecast SW winds, but of course you know what happened don’t you?  Yep, we had every wind from every direction  with only one day of the forecast SW winds!

We took the opportunity whilst basing ourselves in Ngawi to explore the surrounding area, first of all was a trip into Ngawi itself then along the 5km of road to Cape Palliser.

  Boat launching Ngawi style
Ngawi is a fishing village, where the predominant catch is Paua and Crayfish.  It is also reknown as have the highest number of bulldozers per capita.

 You can see in the above photo that there is a step ladder/ramp from the boat to the bulldozer over the very long draw bar.  We watched the boat being launched, then the bulldozer and trailer positioned so that the bulldozer was out of reach of the tide but the trailer was still in the water, the driver walked up the ladder, carefully climbed along the side of the trailer to then leap onto the boat as it carefully manoeuvred itself toward the trailer on the incoming waves.  It was all very well orchestrated and timed.  

From here we went to Cape Palliser.  Cape Palliser is the southernmost point on the North Island and lies further south than Nelson and Blenheim in the South Island. Cape Palliser was named by Captain James Cook in honour of ‘his worthy friend’ Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser of the British Royal Navy.

  The lighthouse as viewed from the carpark

  Read all about it

They say there are 261 steps to the top, and I will have to take their word for it as I lost count about half way up and I was not going to start again and I was concentrating too hard on getting down again with my dodgy knees to think about counting as well.
   Roy taking a photo of me taking a photo of him

I mentioned earlier that the road into Ngawi is interesting, the following photos are taken on our way out.

 The road winds its way around the coastline, with one lane having been washed away in places. 
  Looking back along the road to Ngawi
  On the flat along the sea.  Apparently the road is frequently under water when high seas are present, our host Julie told us that sometimes she has to wait for a gap in the waves to make her dash through to get home!