Monday, January 17, 2011

Northland Roadtrip (3 Jan - Day 8 of 10)

Another of those perfect days dawned. In-car action shots on our travel from Houhora campsite to Cape Reinga.

Cape Reinga is the northern most tip of the north island of New Zealand. There sits a light house that has been functional from 1941. It is powered by solar panels and has been automated since 1987. Here the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. The views were absolutely breath taking. Delicate laser cut signboards along the path gave loads of history about the land, occupants, fauna, flora, mythology and Maori history. Quite fascinating.

It was a hot walk to the point. Lots of tourists there. Nice thing here is that there is nothing commercial at all. Not even drinks for sale. No gimmicky key rings or souvenir mugs. It’s all about nature.

 

Just a little south east of Cape Reinga is Tapotupotu Bay. This has a DOC campsite (no electricity, but has toilets and running water). This is camping right on the beach. Quite something. We stopped for a refreshing swim. A big surprise was the power of the ocean. Yes ocean! I’ve grown quite accustomed to swimming in the gentle waters of bays and gulfs (which Ryan quite accurately describes as lakes). The waves of the exposed open ocean were dramatic and smacked me down a couple of times.

 

Some driving shots on the way to our next stop. Sheep eating spinach. Pausing for the cows to cross (something that happened rather frequently). And coming around the corner a spectacular view of a sand dune.

Te Paki giant sand dunes! Incredible.There were bus loads of tourists that arrived and tramped up to the top of dunes to slide down again. I climbed up two dunes and can vouch that it’s hard work. But the views are incredible. We walked along the stream that leads to the sea (on the west side) for about 45minutes. It was incredible. Did I mention this place was incredible? We never got to the sea unfortunately. This is because we decided we were both too hungry to walk further and then have to walk back. By the time we were back at the van it was a 3pm lunch.

A 30minute southerly drive brought us to a sign that said Rarawa Beach and Campsite. So we took a left and went to have a look. Another DOC campsite (look at the couch set up on the bottom right photo!). The beach here was white as white as I have ever seen a beach to be. White silica made this beach look and feel like baking powder.

 

 

Last stop for the day was Henderson Bay. Not an easy stroll down to the beach. We scampered down a steep bank to get to a wide open beach with rocky bits spread about. Such amazingly clear water. I could see little fish and shells with their molluscs inside moving around in the water.

 

Driving back to the campsite we stopped at an avo honesty box stall. I took a photos of horses just for Al. There are a lot of them (not as many as the cows or sheep), but I tend to not photograph them much. Supper was had at a diner in Pukenui. Was a good treat after the efforts of making supper within a van.

 

Copy of P1030402

Day8Map

Day 8: About 160km travelled

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