Cape Reinga was our goal yesterday and while getting there makes for a full day it was also a great day of adventure.
Up a dawn, we caught the ferry from Russell over to Paihia. Paihia sits just across the bay from us on the mainland. From there we boarded a bus with around 50 other folks and a high energy and very informative guide/driver named Willie.
Willie is of Maori descent and it was clear from the start that he genuinely loves his heritage and this place. In addition to stories along the 12 hour day he sang to us everything from traditional Maori songs to Elvis. He also had us singing and chanting and cheering as he played the harmonica, made balloon animals and so much more.
Our first stop was the Kauri Forest. These are New Zealand's largest trees and many of them in this forest are over 1000 years old.
There was an elevated walkway through the forest and an interesting story to go along with it.
The walkway cost over one million dollars to construct and was built prior to a visit from the Queen of England. Obviously there was great pride in the work that had been done and the local folks were excited to show it to the Queen. When she arrived in her queenmobile she took a few steps on to the walkway, had here picture taken and was gone. She really missed a fabulous walk through some huge trees.
The next big highlight was the ninety mile beach. Pretty cool even if in reality it's only 66 miles long. It's obviously long, also quite wide and firm enough that cars and even buses can drive on it. Willie spun a few doughnuts along the drive much to the amusement of all of us.
After lunch we headed to the Te Paki Stream which is at the base of the sand dunes. For me this was the highlight of the day when we sand surfed down these massive dunes. We were all given a briefing, handed a boogie board and off we went. The climb to the top wasn't easy but the ride down was really cool and fast.
Speaking of fast, you should have seen Beth on her board. She came down at such a supersonic pace that she carried on right through the landing area, skimmed a small stream before coming to a screeching halt. It was the ride of the day! Thankfully I have most of it on video but not the entire ride. When she zipped past me I started laughing so hard I fell to my knees and momentarily lost the shot. I missed her skimming the stream but did refocus in time to catch her popping up like she had just stuck the landing in the olympic gymnastics finals.
We finally arrived at Cape Reinga which offered spectacular views of where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. This is also considered the most sacred land in the Maori culture because it is where the spirits of the dead go to depart the earth.
A long, fun, funny and educational day!
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| Cape Reinga-Northern Tip of the North Island of New Zealand |
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| That's Beth and Willie On The Ninety Mile Beach |
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| Sand Surfing-The Ride Down Was Great, The Walk Up Was Tough |
