The most Northernly tip of New Zealand
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2005
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Trip End
Apr 09, 2006
Cape Reinga,
New Zealand
Wednesday, September 7, 2005
We booked onto the Sand Safaris "Far North Experience". The company provide a comfortable air-conditioned coach to take us to the most Northerly tip of New Zealand. To add to the fun, we have sand sprinking all over us from the air-conditioning vents. This is because of the buses frequent journeys through sand dunes, sucking sand into the vents!
Our bus-driver/tour guide is very comical and provides us with numerous renditions of Mauri folksongs and tales.
Frequent stops are made throughout the tour of the Aupouri Peninsula, an area of many contrasts from desert brown sands of 90 Mile Beach, cliff faces drenched in wild surf to the pure white sands of Great Exhibition Bay and rolling farm land of the interior
01 Gumdigging in NZ
. Culminating in a breathtaking view of two vast expanses of water, the Tasman Sea & the Pacific Ocean crashing together as they meet below the Cape Reinga Lighthouse.We stop at a site of a buried Kauri forest. It is drenched in history and a second friendly and comical guide provides an entertaining review of the forest and why the Kauri Tree in this area is now almost entirely depleted.
For many decades NZ northfolk suffered with sand dunes which were repoaching their farmland. In a quest to detain the ever growing dunes they planted many forests along the coastline of NZ.
Our next stop is Cape Reinga or in its original name is "Te Rerenga Wairua" which is at the top of the island. A short walk leads to the lighthouse of Cape Reinga overlooking spectacular views where two oceans meet - Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean at Columbia Bank malestrom. Known to the Maori as "Te Rerenga Wairua", Cape Reinga is the departure place for the spirits of their recently deceased.
Afterwards we stop at a beach inlet for some lunch (also provided by the tour company), its quickly gobbled up.
02 Cape Reinga signpost & two seas clashing behind
. not only as we are famished but the eery presence of hundreds of seagulls milling around encourages us to eat quickly.After crossing the Te Paki stream, quick sand stream, we stop at some sand dunes for a spot of sand tobogganing. Sand tobogganing is similar to sandboarding in Peru except for a couple of vital differences! 1. NZ tour operators do not WAX-UP your boards before you plummet down the sanddunes 2. NZ tour operators choose modest slopes with few if any bumps. Regardless Ad opts not to sandboard this time, Fergus does but is not overly enthused by it all.... too slow he says...
We then take a drive along 90 Mile Beach (actually closer to 90 kilometres!). Many cars have been left stranded along the beach due to high tides, not to mention the beach was once used for many extreme sports and world record attempts. In a quest to rid the beach of such activities it was allocated highway status ie highway driving rules apply.
We're both shattered after a long day, and stop off at a hostel in Opononi. Its a small hostel built on a hill by the owner, inretrospect its more of a wooden shack really! Undoubtedly the best point are the hot water bottles provided for each person! :)
