Today was the first day, since the fall of the Cavalier, that we haven’t seen one bit of rain. So, with the weather cooperating (even if only for a day) we decided to take advantage of it and make the full day trip to the northernmost point in New Zealand, Cape Reinga (or “Cape Regina” as Chris likes to call it).
We knew that the trip would be long, so we prepared ourselves for the journey equipped with our iPods and plenty of food (the iPods proving to be more essential as we were faced with quite the long-winded tour guide).
Starting in Paihia, we headed north along the east coast catching glimpses of the vast Pacific Ocean. By lunchtime, we had made it to Cape Reinga and got to witness the crashing together of two oceans (well, I guess not technically since the Tasman is really a sea, but you get the idea). From up above at the lighthouse, we could see some beautiful views of the coastline to the west. After snapping a few photos and taking a little time to have our lunch, we were ready for some action.
The next stop was at the huge Te Paki sand dunes for some sand boarding. We’ve sand boarded a couple of times before (once in White Sands, NM and another in Moreton Island, Australia) so we knew we wanted to do it. Unlike our previous experiences though, this time we were provided with actual boogie boards. What a difference! The ride was smooth and the boards definitely provided you with more control. And, no sand in the face! (Doesn’t that sound nice, Sue?) We took some video footage of our rides down….enjoy!
The final highlight of the trip, was a drive down the west coast on 90 mile beach. Since it was low tide, we could drive right on the beach for about 52 miles. For all of you trivia buffs out there, we were told that the beach isn’t actually 90 miles, but more like about 64 miles. Why they named it 90 mile beach, we have no idea (although our driver speculated with some mundane stories that took almost the entire 52 miles to tell).
After the beach, we headed back to Paihia, happy to be back again after a long day. Tomorrow we plan on taking a cruise around the Bay of Islands to look for dolphins and just check out the scenery mostly. Check back in tomorrow for some more!
90 Mile Beach
The two of us at Cape Reinga (notice the rough water on the left) 
5 comments:
I'm so happy to see Jen's red bacon shirt back in action! And sandboarding without a face full of sand just isn't sandboarding (at least not in my experience). Every time I've gone sandboarding, it's come with a face full of sand :)
I enjoyed hearing the authentic Kiwi language in the video. I feel like I was there!
That looks kinda fun, though a giant slip-and-slide would probably be better. Sue was your experience sandboarding anything like waterboarding?
Not sure; I've never been waterboarding.
Thank god for that!
Indeed. I just saw the movie "Rendition" this weekend and, based on one of the main character's experiences with waterboarding, I would conclude that sandboarding (even with a face full of sand) is much more fun and less like a form of torture.
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