Dome Valley to Cape Reinga - Day 251
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2008
1
180
251
Trip End
Ongoing
Cape Reinga,
North Island,
New Zealand
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Drove to the Bay of islands next via the very touristy towns of Paihia and Opua. I wasn't that impressed with the bay from the shore. I suppose to really see the islands in their full glory you need to take one of the organised boat tours but there're rather pricey and I'd have to wait around for hours, so I decided to keep on driving north.
I stopped next at Matauri Bay which was completely stunning with a dozen or so islands sitting in the blue waters of the bay. I pulled over for a while to enjoy the view from a great vantage point high on one of the surrounding cliffs. Then continued along the coast through the hills that hug the coastline. For me this area was so much more impressive than the Bay of islands with more impressive vista's, no tourists and really enjoyable twisty roads as the road meandered along the coast through the hills.
Finished off the day at Cape Reinga which is right on the northern tip of New Zealand, you can't really travel any further north on the mainland. The last 25km of the drive to the cape was on a bumpy unsealed road which is in the process of being tarmaced. Just like in Australia the car is now covered in fine dust. Will have to visit the car-wash before returning the car next week. The waters of the Tasman sea and Pacific ocean meet at the cape which can be clearly seen from the lighthouse high on the cliff. The turbulent oceans slosh and crash as the bodies of waters merge.
Sleeping tonight at the Cape before heading south tomorrow. There're some massive sand dunes just south-west which I saw from the lighthouse this evening. I'll visit the dunes first thing in the morning I reckon.
