New Zealand on a Very Tight Budget Day 20

The path to the Pinnacles started from the campsite by walking up an almost dry riverbed. Several cars had pulled up while we had breakfast and the people got out looked at the notice board and then drove off - pity they missed a real treat.
As the sides of the canyon closed in the washed out rock formations began to appear and gradually the whole landscape changed into a very alien world.
Readers of our previous trips will recognise the formations from the brilliant candy-striped Bryce Canyon in the US. What these lacked in colour and scope they made up for in energy as it is obvious the grey shale is very fragile and volatile. You could probably come back next year and find things looked very different as towers toppled and new ones were carved out by the rain. the last stage was up a steep shale bank which must be quite a sight when the rains come. We were joined by an Australian girl called Jessica, who despite her bungee jumping, sky-diving activities admitted she was quite nervous of the landscape collapsing on her (she had also managed to miss all the sign for where the loop track went).
This place is every bit as extraordinary at the Pancake Rocks or Moeraki Boulders of South Island, possibly more so, but they are not just off the main road and are in fact rather remote up a dead end road despite being only half a day away from Wellington (as well as an hour's walk) so no one seems to come!
We parted company after our 2 hour excursion and I thought it would be nice to have lunch at the settlement called Lake Ferry which is situated where Lake Wairarapa empties into the sea. That was a good call.
In actual fact it looked like the sea was emptying into the lake through a torrential diagonal channel with huge waves breaking over the edge of it. It was quite a sight and the gathering clouds over the hills towards Wellington plus the driftwood strewn beach added to the atmosphere of NZ noir. We loitered so long that it was 4pm by the time that we arrived at the Mt Bruce National Wildlife Centre and we were slightly surprised to find it closed at 4.30 ( New Zealanders seem to knock off early). As a result we declined to pay the $20 per head entry fee and settled for tea on the terrace. We were rewarded with first class viewing of the Takahe. Like the Pukeko's huge, fat, flightless cousin. Thought to be extinct a small number were found in a remote area of south island in 1948 and a breeding programme was started on the sanctuary islands (free of stoats and possums). Mt Bruce and one reserve in the south is one of the very few places they can be seen. They feed the young with Takahe puppets and teach them to hide from stoats by showing a stuffed stoat attacking the puppet!
We drove on to Carnival Park campsite which is very nice, like a garden but the rain we have kept ahead of all day has caught us up so it will be an early night I think!