On the Sunday morning we awoke to our continuing good weather and drove round to a small Maori township called Russell. This was only a 15min ferry from Paihia in the Bay of Islands so we thought it would be close enough for a quick drive before we headed north - we were wrong, as it was about a 1.5hr drive with 20km both ways being a gravel track - plus it was not that interesting of a place anyway.
At lunchtime we headed towards Cape Reinga and stopped part of the way along Ninety Mile beach area to camp up for the night in a town called Pukenui. The next morning we continued our journey, Stopping off in Waitiki Landing at lunchtime for an Ostrich burger. The last 20km up to Cape Reinga - which is the northern most tip of New Zealand, was all gravel/dirt road, so we took our time as the last thing we need is a chip in the windscreen of the van costing us money.
It was a glorious day - about 22 degrees, and when we got to Cape Reinga it was definitely worth the trip. Not only is it the most Northern point of New Zealand, but it is also where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It is not every day that you get to see two ocean's collide and it was a definitely an interesting phenomenon seeing the waves crash against each other from both sides. We spent a bit of time at the lighthouse and took the usual photos of distances from different parts of the world. More thumbnails ...
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