New Zealand
Cape Palliser
Fishing boats launched by bulldozer into wild surf beneath a striped lighthouse.
The bulldozer reverses down the ramp and into the surf. At Ngāwī, on the North Island's southernmost coast, fishing boats are too heavy and the sea too wild for conventional launching, so each boat has its bulldozer — machinery lined along the beach like cavalry. It is as practical as it is absurd, and it sets the tone for the whole cape.
Cape Palliser is the Wairarapa coast at full strength: no harbour could survive here, hence the bulldozer fleet; the red-and-white lighthouse stands its 258 steps above the rocks as the North Island's most southerly light; and fur seals sprawl across the shore platform at the road's end in one of the island's great colonies — walked past at a respectful twenty metres, since the seals hold the right of way. The coast road forms its own chapter, exposed to storm damage and repair controls that reward checking the live road page before setting out. From the lighthouse gallery in clear weather, the South Island's Kaikōura ranges stand across the strait — remoteness made visible.
Solo
The 258-step climb delivers Cook Strait entire — with the South Island across the water when the sky permits.
Couple
A dawn bulldozer launch, seals at the road's end, the lighthouse climb — the day is a sequence of genuine surprises.
Family
Seals viewed at distance, steps climbed hand-in-hand, and machinery children refuse to stop watching.
- Each fishing boat at Ngāwī has its own bulldozer — no harbour survives this coast.
- The North Island's most southerly light stands its 258 steps above the rocks.
- Fur seals hold the shore platform at the road's end — visitors keep twenty metres.
- On clear days the South Island stands visible across the strait.
Crayfish bought direct from Ngāwī's fishers when the boats come back up the beach.
Battered blue cod and chips at the Palliser Bay hotel on the road home.
Mount Sunday
New Zealand
A solitary hill guarding a braided river plain — Tolkien's Rohan made real, set removed.
Milford Track
New Zealand
Four days through rainforest and over a pass Victorians called the world's finest walk.
Arthur's Pass
New Zealand
An alpine village where the world's only mountain parrot audits every arriving car.
Franz Josef Glacier
New Zealand
A glacier named for frozen tears, its ice now reached only by helicopter.