The Lighthouses of Wairarapa

We drove down from Napier to the vinyard region of Wairarapa. We stayed from Masterton, from which we explored the neighbouring towns such as Greytown and Martinborough.

As most other vinyard regions, this was a place with fantastic landscapes and incredible food. It was a nice relaxing place to spend the New Years'.

One of the highlights of this region are the beaches and rugged coastline.

We visited two lighthouses in Wairarapa, Castlepoint Lighthouse and Cape Palliser. Here are my favourite images of these two locations, both from land and from air.

Gannets at Hawke's Bay

Cape Kidnappers is the largest terrestrial colony of Australasian gannets. Every winter, adult gannets flock here to mate. They raise a single chick every year, which fledges by the end of April. Surviving chicks embark on a long trip to Australia’s southern coasts, where they will mature into adults, before they return to their colony of origin. Only thirty percent of all chicks return each year.

We spent our first morning of 2018 here whilst staying in Napier. It was a fantastic way to see in a new year, right up close to these giants with 2 metre wingspans.

Te Mata Peak Sunsets

Te Mata Peak is one of the landscape highlights of the Napier region. This was our next stop on our North Island roadtrip. We spent two sunsets at this location, which was truly spectacular and especially interesting for aerial photography.

Below are some of my favourite images from this location - I'll let the images speak for themselves!