Cape Reinga and a night in the bay

Sunrise over the bay of islands - on the way to Cape Reinga
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We had loads of fun up in Cape Reinga. Its a really lovely place, but the biggest reason was our driver. His name was 'Auto' - as in a car. Crazy man he was too. He's about 45, dreadlocked, and completely nuts. Funnier still, he had a mixed tour group of us Kiwi Exp. "kids" and a bunch of boring old people - not his usual audience. Watching him trying not to swear, swearing profusely and then apologising kept us laughing all day pretty much. You have to get your entertainment from somewhere you know!

Driving on 90 mile beach
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Anyway, Cape Reinga is about 2 or 3 hours from the bay of islands. We headed up to the cape via 90 mile beach - this is a designated highway on the NZ roadmap. Although its not even close to 90 miles, its pretty impressive. Unfortuntely for us, as we drove up it poured rain so we couldnt see a thing.

about 45, dreadlocked, and completely nuts

At the end of 90 mile beach the weather cleared, and we got some great photos on top of the bluff there. the ocean is wild up there and the photos dont give the full noise and wind experience that came with the views!

on top of the bluff at the top of 90 mile beach
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At the end of 90 mile beach we hit the sand dunes. Miles and miles of the hugest sand dunes ive ever seen - Brittas Bay it aint. We had the chance to go sandboarding here which is awesome fun. We had to climb to the top of the dune first, which wasnt what you'd call fun. no pics of the sandboarding unfortunately, you'll just have to trust me! it was brilliant though, we came down at a breakneck speed, and got ourselves covered in sand and rain. Auto came down on his knees.

Arriving at the northernmost point in the country, we saw some pretty dramatic views of crashing waves and wild ocean. Its where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific Ocean and you can actually see the two tides meet right off the cape. On the way back we stopped off in a Kaoiri forest full of some of the biggest trees in the world. The Kaoiri tree is sacred to the Mari people and was used by them in the past to build huge wakas (kayaks) to sail in battle and for hunting. They were so big, almost as big as the Seqouias we saw in California. Pretty cool that we got to stand beside the two biggest trees in the world!

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All in all, a great day out. we headed back to spend the night in Pahia, Bay of Islands as the next day we had to be up early for our trip out to see the dolphins.