A memorable trek on the Tora Coastal Walk
Despite living in the Wairarapa, a wine and food region located only one hour’s drive or train ride from New Zealand’s Capital City Wellington, for the last 40 years, Chrissy French had never visited the Tora coastline – until a girl’s weekend away changed that.
Chrissy, a primary school teacher, and 11 other friends completed the three-day, three night Tora Coastal Walk during a spell of “perfect” settled Wairarapa weather in April.
“All of us, at some point, had talked about doing the Tora Coastal Walk as we all had friends or colleagues who had done it, and raved about it,” says Chrissy. “So we thought – better late than never! We were a fantastic group of women ready for a civilized adventure.”
Located 34kms east of the wine village of Martinborough, the Tora Coastal Walk encompasses river valleys, hill country coastal farms, native bush walks, expansive ridge-tops, meandering creek walks and the spectacular coastline complete with seal colonies. Each night is spent in a different cottage, including the architecturally designed Stony Bay Lodge, with all meals catered for using fresh local produce.
Chrissy says “it’s a little bit of luxury in the middle of no-where”.
“We had stunning meals every day. I still remember the farmed venison sausages and patties, fillet of beef and fresh fish caught that day cooked beautifully. There were also amazing desserts every night,” says Chrissy. “With our group being mothers and wives, it was so cool not to have to worry about that side of things.”
Another highlight was the scenery and not being “connected” with the outside world (there’s no cell phone coverage).
“The scenery is stunning and so diverse. Having lived on a farm I was used to the rolling hill country. I particularly enjoyed walking through the native bush and then getting to the top of the hill and seeing that amazing coast spill out in front of us,” says Chrissy.
The Tora Coastal Walk was the first private walk established in the North Island by a small group of farming families who wanted to diversify their farming business and offer a unique proposition for travellers/ walkers. Now run by Kiri Elworthy and husband James and Chris and Jenny Bargh it will celebrate its 21st Anniversary in October 2016.
Over the last two years, the families have also opened up the track to the public for one day for the Tora Challenge, a run/walk event with three distances available to participants. These include a 6km walk/run, 18km walk/run or the 32km run.
“The feedback from participants who did the Tora Challenge has been just amazing,” says Kiri. “They loved the challenging course, they loved the scenery and they soaked up the terrific rural hospitality – all sentiments echoed by the thousands of people who have completed the Tora Coastal Walk over the last 20 years.”
Kiri says a large majority of the walk’s visitors stay a night or two in either Martinborough or the nearby colonial village of Greytown – taking advantage of the terrific cafes, restaurants, wineries and boutique shopping the Wairarapa has to offer.
The Tora Coastal Walk requires a reasonable level of fitness and is open from October 1 – April 30. All information walkers need – including what to bring, transport, costs and bookings – can be found on www.toracoastalwalk.co.nz.
How to get there:
The Wairarapa is located at the lower right-hand corner of New Zealand’s North Island. It is only an hour’s drive or train ride north-east of Wellington, which has daily domestic and international flights; and just over an hour’s drive from Palmerston North’s domestic airport. Driving to the Wairarapa is easy, with The Classic New Zealand Wine Trail (SH2) weaving through pretty rural landscapes including vineyards, olive groves and beef, sheep and dairy farms. The region’s five townships are serviced by train, bus or shuttles. There is a wide variety of accommodation from luxury lodges and 5 Star hotels to motels and charming B&Bs, many of which are in historic villas that have been sensitively restored.
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