Putangirua Pinnacles — Attraction in Martinborough Community

This was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the path is washed out to the pinnacles at several points and we ended up losing the trail and tracking the stream instead. It's quite rough going when you do this as there's a rocky creek bed that's gravely most of the way. Others have been able to track the main trail better but due to at least one landslide the main trail is only about 40% in order. Tracking the stream up till the giant rockslide is probably easier than tracking the trail at this point, as long as it's not raining and you have good shoes to walk over the creek with (there's lots of stones you can walk on to cross it when the going gets tough on one side). Just be extremely careful as it's easy to sprain your ankle or twist out your knee as the gravel or rocks sometimes give out. Recommend informing others that you will call them around 3 hours afterwards as the trail currently takes about 2.5 hours if you are an amateur hiker like us. There's no cell service later on the trail so be sure to carry a paper map or pre-download your maps...

Great place for a beautiful hike and one of the filming locations for LOTR. We took the ridge trail up and the streambed back down. The official website lists the stream bed trail as closed, but we were able to hike it fine and there were several others that were in the trail as well. Took about 3.5 hours including stops for photos, snacks, and lunch, probably would have been just under 3 hours without stopping. The Ridge trail is a continuous hike upwards so is moderately challenging though isn’t too long (about 1.5 hours to the top). The streambed is all gravel and rocks and requires crossing the stream a few times. Make sure to have good footwear, ideally waterproof hiking shoes with ankle support to make the stream crossings easier and for all the lose rock along the streambed. Overall, not difficult but requires some level of fitness. Could be a bit challenging if the water...

So amazing. Even if you are not a Lord of the Rings buff these are well worth the detour (if you are based out of Wellington). It's an easy to moderate hike and there is a split on which way you can go. One is a look out and the other is in the river bed (the river bed is dry but there are loose rocks so I would recommend good footwear though some people seemed fine in their Converse). If you are into 'saving the best for last' do the look out first as it is going up the river bed and exploring the ins and outs of the pinnacles that are truly fantastic (in my opinion). If you only have time for one don't do the lookout. Such a remarkable landscape was formed here and it's great that you can walk between the cliffs and experience them instead of just look...