The Pinnacles are where Peter Jackson filmed the Dimholt Road scene in The Lord of the Rings, which is a very epic moment when Aragorn confronts the ghost of oath-breakers who betrayed his ancestor Isildur. He tells them that if they fight for him now, he will hold their oaths fulfilled, and they can rest in peace. Aragorn then shows up at the climactic battle with an entire army of badass ghosts who cannot be defeated in what is definitely the greatest deus ex machina in book and movie history. Did I find and enlist any murderous ghosts while in this eerie and atmospheric location? You will not know... until I set them upon you. >:)
Ahem.
Anyway, the drive there started out lovely, but soon took a turn for the worse when we drove into a massive rain-cloud. The drive north on highway 2 goes over a mountain, so it's pretty classic kiwi driving-- sharp turns, steep inclines, and blind corners. Not super fun in the rain, especially when the dratted windshield wants to keep fogging. Fortunately, we made if off the mountain just fine and the sun came out as we continued our drive, so all was well!
The Putangirua Pinnacles walk can be done two ways: there's a bush walk to an overlook, or a stream bed walk that takes you into the Pinnacles themselves. The stream bed walk is probably the better of the two, but if it's been raining a lot it the river gets really high and the walk becomes too dangerous. I think we were right on the edge; the river was roaring but it wasn't too deep, so we decided to go for it.
The walk was excellent-- not too arduous and really beautiful, with a comfortable drizzle that added to the atmosphere of the place. As Daisy noted, some places in New Zealand look better with a bit of gloom, and this was one of them.
It felt really cool to walk up into the Pinnacles and be surrounded by these huge craggy cliffs.