Wine one day,
wild coast the next.
Pinot noir five minutes up the road, a seal colony and a lighthouse at the end of it, and hardly anybody in between.
The Wairarapa is the bit of New Zealand that Wellingtonians quietly hope you will not discover. It is an hour and a bit over the Remutaka hill from the capital, and it contains some of the country's best small wineries, a genuinely wild south coast, Victorian villages that never got knocked down, and — thanks to how few people live here — an internationally recognised dark sky.
All the drive times below are from our gate on Lake Ferry Road.
Within half an hour
Martinborough village
A village square laid out in the shape of the Union Jack, ringed by cafés, a pub, and the wine shops. Most of the cellar doors are close enough to walk or cycle between — which is the entire reason people come here for the weekend.
The vineyards
Martinborough built its reputation on pinot noir and it deserves it — the gravel terrace here produces something quite unlike the rest of the country. There are also excellent sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and syrah producers, most of them small enough that you will likely be poured a glass by whoever made it.
Lake Ferry
Straight down our road to where it meets the sea. A tiny settlement, a wild black-sand beach, the Lake Onoke outlet, and a pub that has been feeding fishermen for a very long time. Superb spot for a sunset.
Day trips
Putangirua Pinnacles
An eerie forest of eroded earth pillars in a dry riverbed, formed as rain washed away the softer gravels around them over thousands of years. Peter Jackson used them as the Paths of the Dead. The walk up the streambed takes about an hour and a half return, and children love it.
Cape Palliser
The southernmost point of the North Island, reached by a spectacular road hugging the coast. There is a candy-striped lighthouse up a long flight of steps, and one of the largest fur seal colonies on this coast lounging about on the rocks below. Keep a respectful distance and never get between a seal and the sea.
Greytown
The best-preserved Victorian main street in the country, now full of very good food, bookshops and design stores. Reliably excellent for a rainy afternoon, and the bakery alone justifies the trip.
Stonehenge Aotearoa
A full-scale modern henge built on the Wairarapa plains — not a replica, but a working astronomical instrument calibrated for this latitude, this horizon and this sky. A natural companion to a stargazing trip. Check their opening hours before setting off.
Pukaha National Wildlife Centre
Forest sanctuary and breeding centre north of Masterton, where you have a real chance of seeing kiwi, kākā and other birds that have vanished from most of the mainland. Good for a half day with children.
Castlepoint
A lighthouse on a limestone reef, a lagoon, and a great blade of rock rising straight out of the sea. One of the most dramatic pieces of coast in the North Island and well worth the longer drive on a fine day.
Balloons over the Wairarapa
Every autumn the Wairarapa fills with hot-air balloons, and on a still morning they drift right over the grove — close enough to hear the burners from the deck. It is a genuinely lovely thing to wake up to, and worth checking the festival dates against yours.
The Martinborough Fair, held twice each summer, packs the village square with several hundred stalls and a great many people. Book early if you want to be here for it.
Closer than you think
About an hour and a half from Wellington over the Remutaka hill, or a scenic train ride to Featherston and a short drive from there. From the north, it is a straightforward run down State Highway 2.
You will want a car once you are here — the coast, the pinnacles and the wineries are all spread out, and public transport is essentially theoretical.
A quiet place to come back to
Whatever you go and do during the day, you get to return to several acres of olive trees, a pool, and a sky with nothing in it but stars.