Puniho Road to Cape Egmont

 


Using a plantain stem on my AA roadmap I was able to estimate the remaining distance to Cape Egmont as 24km. So at 0545hrs I set off to do 6 hours of walking, downhill all the way.


Puniho Road goes like this for miles.


This country hall hosted a dance party for dairy farmers in May, when the cows have "dried off".


A solitary pohutukawa and its best friend the power pole were upstanding in their field, and I knew I was approaching Parihaka when I saw the pennants flying.


Not to be disrespectful, but why does the upper flag have Spades Hearts Clubs and Diamonds and two crossed keys? No way is this the Vatican bridge club.

No way could I find out. One of NZs taonga, a monument to peaceful protest, was closed.


As usual, keep walking. Still downhill, day warming up.


Another puzzle on the corner of Cape Road. It's a Memorial to war dead from the district with an empty lot behind it. Probably a Domain, and a great candidate for a camping area. Just saying.

Cape Road led me, finally, to Cape Egmont lighthouse.


It's 20m tall and made of cast iron. It started work on Mana Island and was moved here in the 1880s, where it still does its job.


If it wasn't for a departing family I'd never have found the entrance, since it involved a chain over a cattlestop and two signs, "no dogs" and "no alcohol". Having neither, I climbed the 30 steps and finished my Cape to Cape journey.




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