Day 43 - Friday 16 February 2024

I have reached the stage on this trip where I no longer have any real idea what day it is; I know that today had been Friday solely because I checked to see what yesterday was in the blog. I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing.

Awake early, and the sky was red out of my 5th floor window, so I thought I'd set up a timelapse and see what happened while I went for breakfast. All went well until the sun actually rose, then I could see how much the windows needed a clean, and also I could see a clear reflection of the Gopro and tripod reflected from the window, so not all together successful.

Oh, and I've finally figured out how to get a still from a video file, so I'm learning as I go here.

Checked out and away from the hotel at 09:00, and the first plan was to visit Maraetotara Falls just a half hour from Napier. I was taken to the same area where I did the cycle trip yesterday (yes, it's still a tad uncomfortable) and a waterfall that felt like a bit of a disappointment; the preview shots in Google Maps looked a lot better than the viewpoints I had. Perhaps I'm getting waterfall fatigue .... no; that's never going to happen!

I put in the next destination into the Satnav, and it came back with 3.5 hours, so I was in for a long drive. Google Maps took me to SH2, which I followed to Masterton (well, I say followed .... a couple of times I was taken off SH2 only to rejoin it a few minutes later ... I must check the settings) at which point I turned left and made my way to Castle Point.

When I was planning this trip I had no idea about Castle Point, but then I saw a You Tube video which changed everything. At Castle Point there is a hike to climb a Castle Rock that overlooks a fantastic bay, and I felt I had to do that ... this is Castle Rock .....

I followed the path from the car park for about 20 minutes, climbing all of the time to approach Castle Rock from the right as you look at it. The views both ways down the coast were stunning.

The Department of Conservation trail ended with a sign saying that the trail further on wasn't maintained by them, but I decided to give it a go.

My achilles tendon has been a little temperamental since Mount Maunganui, and felt really tight as I started the path up the face of the rock that can only be described as 'primitive'; I may have successfully made it to the top, but coming down may have been problematic, so since I was hiking alone I made the sensible and safe call, and captured some footage from where I'd reached before turning back and making my way back to the sign. The slope to the right of the photo below gives an idea of how steep it was.

I couldn't be disappointed by this failure as I'd turned back for all of the right reasons. At the point of the sign was another path that lead down to the beach, but this had a warning that it wasn't maintained as there had been a land slip. The information I had was that this was passable, and this turned out to be the case as I made it to the beach with a bit of care.

The beach itself was wonderful, a bay with a rock curtain guarding most of it from the Pacific Ocean, an opening near Castle Rock, and one point where the waves were coming over and emptying into the bay. It's the sort of beach that we enjoyed as a family when I was young.

Along the beach, and past the fishing boats being hauled from the sea by tractors, and I followed the steep path up to the lighthouse, and beyond where a series of wooden stairs lead to viewing platforms. The views south to Castle Rock were fantastic, but also northwards the coastline was stunning.

Back to the car, and it was 16:30, so time to get back onto the road for the 90 minute drive to my accommodation for tonight in Greytown, where I arrived at 18:00. Straight out to dinner before returning to the room to blog and vlog before bed. When I discovered that I was staying a night in Greytown I had a not flattering mental image, but now that I'm here it's a lovely little town with loads going on, so that'll show me!

It's been another long drive today, but the detour to visit Castle Point was definitely worth it.