Putangirua Pinnacles

The pinnacles are hoodoos: rain has cut down into a thick bed of gravel and silt laid by an ancient river, and where a boulder sat on top it sheltered the ground beneath, leaving a column standing while everything around it washed away. The result is a gully of tall grey spires with a bare scree floor - a landscape with no vegetation and no shade, which feels entirely unlike the farmland a few hundred metres away. Two routes: straight up the stream bed to the base of the pinnacles, about an hour return, or a loop of two to three hours climbing to a ridge lookout above them. The stream bed route is walking on loose rock and involves crossings. Erosion is active, so material does fall; standing directly under the columns is not sensible. The gully appeared in the Lord of the Rings films, which is what brings a share of the visitors.

What you'll find

• The hoodoos - columns capped by the boulders that protected them.
• The bare gully - scree floor, no vegetation, no shade.
• The ridge lookout - the loop view down onto the formation.
• The active erosion - the process that made them, still running.

When to go

October to April. Avoid after heavy rain - the stream bed route floods and the columns shed material. Early or late in the day for the light and to escape the heat.

Practical notes

Do not stand at the base of the columns; rockfall is real and ongoing. The stream bed walk is on loose rock with crossings. There is no shade at all. The last road is unsealed and the campground basic.

Nearby

Cape Palliser and its seal colony are south; Martinborough is north.

Key facts