The Wairarapa is the rural heart of the Greater Wellington region, separated from the capital by the dramatic Rimutaka Range. Once you cross the hill road or take the train through the tunnel, Wellington's urban energy gives way to wide valleys, vineyards, and small towns with a distinctly unhurried pace. The name means "glistening waters," a reference to the large Lake Wairarapa that sits at the southern end of the plains.
Wine is what draws most visitors. The Martinborough wine village, about an hour from Wellington, produces some of New Zealand's best pinot noir, and you can walk between a dozen cellar doors in a single afternoon. Further north, Masterton is the region's largest town and hosts the annual Golden Shears sheep-shearing competition, a fiercely contested event that says everything about the local economy. Greytown, between the two, has a beautifully preserved Victorian main street lined with boutiques and cafes.
The coastline is wild and largely empty. Cape Palliser at the southern tip has a large fur seal colony, a lonely lighthouse reached by 250 steps, and the eerie Putangirua Pinnacles — tall rock formations carved by erosion that served as a filming location for The Lord of the Rings. The road out there is narrow and unsealed in places, but the isolation is the point.
