Day trip to Castlepoint, Wairarapa, New Zealand

Lama dah cerit nie tapi asyik tertangguh ...nie baru ada masa (well, sebenarnya nak buat kerja tapi tadi dok godek godek files nak backup kan gambar - terjumpa gambar2 nie) ..I went to Castlepoint as part of my birthday celebration (hahaha celebration yang low profile tu ..ingat tak?) and also celebrate Lyn punya birthday ..so kami sewa kereta that day and took off to Castlepoint ..

Castlepoint nie dia punya attraction is the lighthouse ..and the long beach and sand dune ...it is outside of Welly, we drove for 2.5 hours to get there ...and to get there kena lalu Rimutaka Hill yang berliku ala ala Cameron Highland tu ...and punya lah dok check weather forecast masa nak gi ..coz Rimutaka ni the only way to get there ...and selalu kalau angin kuat (which is so frequent!) Rimutaka hill road akan ditutup ..so tourists yang drive sendiri perlu beware with this ...sebab kalau tutup kena carik destination lain ...luck was shining on us ..sebab aritu was warm and sunny! it was a few days after that yang Rimutaka tutup and there was an incident lori terbalik kat situ sebab angin too strong ...there you go! sebab tu aku malas bab bab drive kat hills here ...

 stop at the lookout on top of Rimutaka ...nampak panas ..sekali angin bertiup, sejuk sampai  ke tulang! Menyesal tinggalkan jacket dalam kereta

can you see the road? berliku and no penghadang kat sebelah gaung ...aku tak drive masa pergi ..aku drive masa balik - lagi scary sebab drive masa nak gelap! but I did it ...

On the way to Castlepoint tu, we stopped at a few places - mainly lookout la ...tapi tak stop lama ..sebab target nak sampai Castlepoint and have our picnic lunch there ..balik baru plan singgah Masterton and Greytown ...the drive itself was fun ...beautiful scenery along the way ..masa tu September ..baru nak start spring ...and lots of farms along the way ..sheep ..lamb ..montel montel semuanya ...

beberapa kali stop along the way sebab nak tangkap gambar ....the nearer we are, makin cantik the view ...

wish we had time to walk along the beach ...but we plan to be back before sunset kan sebab nak kena drive lalu the Rimutaka ...so tak sempat jalan jauh on the beach itself ...maybe next time kalau aku ada pergi tempat nie lagi

seagulls pun banyak kat sini ..esp bila nampak kiter makan ..laju jer dia datang ...

and we went on Friday, so memang tak ramai orang masa tu ...and this place takde public transport ..heran akak! kalau tak pakai transport sendiri, get a train to Masterton and from Masterton to Castlepoint sangat2 limited transport option ...better rent a car ajer ...but having said that, one of my next trip nanti nak gi Wairarapa towns like Masterton and Greytown - and maybe naik train ajer from Welly, and there I can rent a bike :-)

plan nak picnic at the beach was cancelled ..sebab sesampainya kat carpark tu angin kuat ...and blowing sand from the sand dunes into our food and our faces! so, first time akak picnic dalam kereta hahaha ...spread makanan kat seat belakang ..and makan outside menikmati the sun on our faces, and the wonderful view terbentang depan mata ...sambil avoiding the seagulls yang menagih simpati nak mintak makanan and avoiding sand from masuk makanan ....

the view yang terbentang depan mata masa lunch

then pas perut kenyang, we went to explore ...mula mula we have to go through the sand dune ...kat sini, one side of the area is sand dune ...stretched far along the beach ..akak malas explore sangat, sebab angin kuat ..susah nak jalan kat pasir tu ...posing posing ala kadar ajer ...tapi seriously sangat sangat cantik ...

and from there beransur ansur gi ke light house ...angin kuat menyukarkan perjalanan hahaha and stopping too frequently for pictures ...tapi sebab memang takde orang, it was like having the place to ourselves!

masa naik kira ok lagi ...then the higher up, bertambah kuat angin ...banyak gambar tu rambut spoilkan gambar ...memang mengerbang ajer ...and muka tak nampak! at that time the wind hanya 80km/hour ..a few days pas nie sampai 110km/hour ...tempat nie very exposed ...sebab tu memang angin kuat samgat ...it limits our adventure gak coz kami tak berani nak walk along the top of the walkway that day ....takde pose kaki terjuntai kat tepi gaung ...sebab takut ...

kitorang gi sampai ke puncak tu (belakang light house)  terasa gak le pendakian nya ...tapi takde le tahap hiking yang digeruni abang ngah kiter tu ...

 takde pose ala mermaid kaki terjuntai here ...sebab takut jatuh ditiup angin :-(

gambar candid from my friend ...masa turun tu memang strong wind ..takde nya muka nak posing sebab sibuk nak hold on to the handrail ..imagine beg aku tu terhuyang hayang padahal it is quite heavy - ngan water bottle, book and segala mak nenek ada dalam tu ....

and boleh tersenyum semula bila dah sampai kat bawah hahaha and reach the car park! We left here dengan niat nak singgah Greytown ...but msa samapi Greytown - a popular small town tempat makcik2 kaya singgah shopping and lepak (kata nya!) dah start ujan ..malas le nak jejalan dalam ujan kan ..so teruskan balik ajer ..i was driving balik tu and halfway nak naik Rimutaka, it rained! so segala concentration yang ada difokus pada pemanduan ....so takde gambar dah masa balik tu ...

it was a good trip ..kereta sewa tak mahal ..yang mahal is petrol hahaha harga petrol nak sama ngan rental price a day!  That was 2014 ...2015 nie aku belum start lagi perjalanan ..tapi niat di hati nak gi Rotorua ...tunggu flight murah dulu :-)