PUTUJUĆI blog

A beautiful day and another great walk close to home.

This popular, easy walking and biking trail, located within the East Harbour Regional Park, is around 20 km long (round trip) and it takes about five hours to complete. We spent a whole day in the park, enjoyed the beautiful weather, had a picnic at the lake and walked everywhere. You can rent a bike at the start of the trail and enjoy the ride along the coast if you like.

Most of the walk is on the graveled road until the short climb to the Pencarrow Lighthouse. From here, a great view of the Cook Strait.

The light at the entrance to the Wellington Harbour was built in 1858 and it is the oldest lighthouse in Aotearoa. This was home to the first official lighthouse keeper and the only female lighthouse keeper in New Zealand, Mary Bennett.

There are actually two lighthouses on the trail. The one on the hill was covered with fog most of the time so another one was built on the beach in 1906 to be used when the upper level light was hidden.

We carried on past the lighthouses to Lake Kohangapiripiri and Kohangatera. There are over 50 species of birds found here so those who like bird-watching would love this area.

What a peaceful place… just what we were looking for.