Cape Palliser is the southernmost point of New Zealand's North Island, an hour's drive south of Martinborough on a road that winds along a rugged coastline between the sea and steep hills. The cape is remote by North Island standards — the nearest town of any size is Featherston, some 45 km away — and that remoteness is what makes it worth the journey.
At the cape itself, a colony of around 6,000 New Zealand fur seals hauls out on the rocks year-round. The animals are approachable but not tame; keep a respectful distance and never get between a seal and the sea. The lighthouse above the cape is reached by 250 steep steps and gives a view over Cook Strait toward the South Island mountains. The Putangirua Pinnacles, 15 km back up the road, are the most dramatic geological feature: a landscape of eroded badlands that served as the Paths of the Dead in The Return of the King. A two-to-three-hour return walk takes you through the pinnacles and up to viewpoints above. The road out to the cape is unsealed in sections — fine in a normal car in dry weather, potentially slippery when wet.