Mainstreet Lodge Kaitaia

... Böschung-unter uns eine malerische Bucht.


Nach zähem Losreißen fahren wir weiter. Etwas in Eile sind wir, heue wäre die richtige Zeit für eine Fahrt am 90MileBeach nämlich von 11 bis 3.00 Uhr sehr sicher. Also müssen wir uns jetzt ein wenig beeilen.


Wir fahren mal gleich einige lange Kilometer, an den Strand, um zu sehen, ob wir die obere Einstiegsstelle wählen. Beim Aus-dem-Fenster-gucken ziehen ...

... masses of other flora and bird species.

When we finally dragged ourselves away from Hokianga to continue the journey towards Auckland we were overtaken by a car which reminded us that some parts of New Zealand are pretty different to the UK. All I can say is I´ve never been overtaken by two dead boar jutting their heads out of back of a pick-up truck before. I think the picture says it all.

... Excellent we thought! However, the sign had clearly been abandoned halfway down for the simple reason it didn´t work! The video shows this much more clearly than I can put into words!

After the pitiful sandboarding attempt, we then got as far as Kaitaia where we checked into a motel run by a guy whose parents were from Bootle and grandparents from Chester Le Street which is very near my part of the world ...

... just the two of us in the car. James told me a little about his background. He was Maori but his tribe was from further south than Hokianga. He had a grandfather who was Scottish and he was married to a woman called Charlotte who belonged to the Maori tribe of that area and one of her ancestors was Irish Captain Cunningham. When I arrived at their home James introduced me to Charlotte. She was going out for the day as she was learning to make a Maori cape. I showed my design to James ...

... away. Warm sea breezes combing tall fern and palm trees, hibiscus and every other brightly colored flower to be had growing. The Mainstreet lodge has large airy rooms facing a small courtyard and they have two cats, Blacky and Gayby who seem to love people more than lounging in the sun. And it's quiet. So our plan is to hike around Cape Reinga for 5 days, starting tomorrow, getting back on the 22nd (21st for you back in the States). Everything we've heard is that if the ...

... eat. After that helped Mike prepare for the arrival of a Conservation group that was coming to help spray for ginger. A non-native plant that has been taking over the high bushland since some lady thought it would look nice in her garden. When the group arrived we first took advantage of having so many hands around and loaded a truck load of wood into Mike's '69 6wheel troop transporter, which still has some pre-WWII parts, beleive it or not. Then we ...

... being thrown into the water for Opo to play with. After half hour the dolphin was pretty efficient at dribbling and throwing - now the funny bit - of course as the dolphin did 'tricks' the surrounding children would all applause except for the little girl who had 'lost' her ball to the dolphin. Anyway after a couple of hours (real time, not film time) the dolphin passed the ball back and the smile returned to the little girls face! Probably had to be there! So the bus arrived ...

... that went on till 6.30am! The guy just would not stop, and now we have a deep hatred for Van Morrison's 'Brown eyed girl' and The Temptations' 'My girl', two of the guy's particular favourites. Despite being a bit weary, we set off in the morning on our organised, 12 hour return, bus trip to Cape Reinga, New Zealand's most northern point, somewhere neither of us had been. After a couple of hours driving on standard roads the bus transferred onto the beach, known as Ninety ...

... Kauri Baum der Welt angesehen. Die Maori glauben, dass dieser Baum, so ne Art Obergott ist, naja auf jeden Fall ist er gross ;-) Meine erste Uebernachtung war dann in Opononi, in einem sehr nettem Hostel, dessen Namen ich leider vergessen habe. Der Ort liegt dierekt am Strand von dem aus man den Sonnenuntergang angucken kann, sehr schoen. (Fotos gibt es wenn, ich mal wieder an einem richtigen PC bin)

... Rafting. It was deadly. First you abseiled down a 40m shaft into the pitch black although we had miner's helmets. Then you are sent flying through the dark on a zip line before jumping of a ledge into the water while sitting on a big rubber ring! you then float up through the caves which are full of glow-worms which make the place seem like your looking at the stars. Finally you go on foot or swin throughthe caves before climbing up a few underground ...