The far north
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
235
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
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Cape Reinga,
New Zealand
Monday, January 8, 2007
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From Pukenui we drove north, until the far end of 90 miles beach. There we turned of towards the west coast to Te Paki and its huge sand dunes.
Buses and tours driving up 90 miles beach access the dunes from the beach, while we arrived from inland. Anyway we were the first there, and had the dunes all to ourselves. There were a couple of places which rented bodyboards to slide down the dunes, but the main problem is to climb them in the first place. That was exhausting, and the wind was blowing strongly, lifting clouds of sand that entered our eyes and ears and nose. From up one of the biggest dunes I could take pictures of Patricia and Cendrine stillc limbing: that gives an idea of the size of the dune.
We walked along the dunes top for a while, before returning to the top of our big dune, from where we ran like mad to the bottow, tons of fun, and tons of sand in the eyes and ears and nose and mouth and clothes...
Then we made it to the far north: Cape Reinga. There is a lighthouse there, and the meeting point of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Signs indicating the distance to the equator and to the south pole and top the tropic of capricorn. Another end of the world.
We drove east to have our picnic on Spirits Bay, where the sould of the dead are meant to depart this land. A powerful place too.
The weather being bad and my health too, I let the girls go for a walk while I took a nap.
We drove south till we reached the Ferry to Opononi, where we spent the night, under the start of a multiday rainfall.
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