Touch My Sand Burns
Trip Start
May 22, 2005
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99
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Trip End
Jan 22, 2006
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Cape Reinga,
New Zealand
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Cape Reinga is a 4 hour one way drive from Paihia so we woke up early to make the winding trek to the scenic "tail". The drive passed through other great sights such as Doubtless Bay and other countless stunning coves and beaches. For lunch we stopped at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom which was populated by little people. Just kidding, actually Kauri is a type of special wood taken from the buried prehistoric forests that existed over 50,000 years ago on the North Island. The wood has been preserved perfectly by the peat swamps that eventually buried the ancient forests. The craftsmen at the Kingdom take this golden coloured wood and create art. We buy very little souvenirs, but we did pick up one of the exquisite bowls. For lunch we had spaghetti sandwiches at the café. Yeah, Kiwis like to put spaghetti in sandwiches as a filling--go figure.
We bumped along the last unsealed portion of the road to the Cape. Once at the Cape a short walk leads you to the lighthouse that overlooks the sheer cliffs that plunge down to the torrential meeting place of oceans. The Cape was stunning.
On the return trip we made a stop at the giant Te Paki Sand Dunes to go sand surfing. We rented some boogie boards from the local convenience store. Upon arriving at the dunes we picked the biggest one we could find and started up its steep slope. Upon reaching a point we thought was "safe" we threw ourselves down the dune with abandon. You can pick up a considerable amount of speed careening down a sandy slope on a boogie board. We have several videos of Mel as a screaming blur shooting by Paul the stunned cameraman. As we gained confidence and learned how not to rocket off the board at the end of the run we climbed higher and higher for each successive run. After we had both eaten a bellyful of sand we happily started our trek back to our car. Near the parking lot we spotted a young family timidly riding their boards off a small mound of a sand dune. We thought to ourselves: "Wussies--go big or go home." We felt no shame in taunting young children.
Before finally turning for Paihia we took a quick spin in our rental car on the Ninety Mile Beach that runs along the coast leading up to the Cape. The beach is actually used as a road by off-roaders and one can actually drive along its entire length to reach the Cape. The drive is not recommended for rental cars since the hidden holes, large tides and quicksand have left many unprepared vehicles wrecked and abandoned. Despite the danger and the fact that our car rental insurance had a specific exclusion against driving on Ninety Mile Beach, we did take a short spin on the sandy highway à la Baywatch.
Our trip to the Cape was one of the best days of the entire year.
