Friday, August 17

Friday, August 17

Today was our big all day tour of the Northland. We would travel roundtrip from Paihia to Cape Reinga-the northernmost (accessible) point on the North Island.

We had a good breakfast and saw that the sun was shining today. YAY! We were picked up on time and found out that there were only five passengers and the driver today. Our first stop would be to a kauri forest (kauri are native NZ trees). See Josh is the tree picture? That's how big these trees are.

I took Josh's picture next to our Dune Rider 4x4 vehicle and good thing I did because we started having electrical problems in our vehicle and we had to drive back to Katikati (about 30 minutes total time lost changing vehicles) to get a new ride. But the bummer was that we were now riding in a shuttle van not the big rig. Ultimately, I guess it was better for the environment that we were in the small ride for our small group but I was a tad disappointed as I selected this tour based on the ride.

It was a long ride up north so we stopped for a coffee break along the way. Josh didn't like his mochachino so I ended up drinking two (fine by me). We had our snack outside and watched ducks chase and bite each other.

After another 100 kms we reached Cape Reinga. We saw the land where Maori believe the spirits of the dead depart New Zealand:

Then, we saw the Cape Reinga Lighthouse and walked down to it. Standing at the edge of the cliff, we could view the spot where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean collided with each other.

We had a picnic lunch on the beach before heading to the sand dunes to sled down them!

It was a lot of work walking up the sand dunes so Josh and I only went up and down twice. Plus, I got a little nervous about being able to stop my sled by only digging my feet into the sand behind my board as directed by our guide. Here are some pictures of us sledding down the sand dunes:

After sledding down the dunes, we started driving down 90 Mile Beach (which really is 64 miles along). This part of the tour was also why I'd chose to go on a guided tour: you can't take rental cars down 90 Mile Beach because it's such a safety hazard for cars getting trapped in the sand and/or by the tides. The ride down the beach did not disappoint. It was great driving on a flat surface and we didn't look forward to getting back on the main road that was windier than the beach road. We also got out to walk around on the beach and Josh and I made the mistake of walking barefoot on the rocks. We were really lucky that we didn't cut our feet!

Our next stop was at a place called Kauri Kingdom where we could buy things made of kauri. While the furniture was really nice, it was really expensive. Like, $12,000 NZD for a bed frame expensive! We left and drove back toward Paihia stopping at Mangonui for fish and chips. They were really tasty (we could tell the fish was fresh not frozen) and we had a great view.

Our final stop before getting dropped off at the apartment was at a local fruit stand. We sampled different fruit and although we hadn't planned to buy anything, 5 kiwifruit for 60 cents seemed too good a deal to refuse!

Overall, the tour was ok. It accomplished what I wanted it to in that I got to drive down 90 Mile Beach and see Cape Reinga. Also, I think it was nice for Josh to be able to look around without having to concentrate on driving as usual. We figured it was an okay deal at $100 per person considering if we went on our own, we'd have spent a lot on fuel ourselves.

Back at the hotel, we had leftover burritos and watched movies. We went to bed with plans to sleep in the next morning since we didn't have a tour booked the following day.