The daytrip up to Cape Reinga (pronounced ‘Ree-enga’) yesterday was great. We got an early start and made lots of stops at different interesting points, like a kauri forest (kauris are the second biggest trees in the world) and of course the famous ‘Ninety Mile Beach’ (which is only 64 miles long, but still very impressive to drive along – on the actual sand, as our bus had four-wheel-drive). We also had the chance to sandboard down a dune before reaching the Cape.
Cape Reinga is one of the most tapu (‘sacred’) places in the country, as the Maori believe that their souls leave the earth from the branches of a tree that grows there. It’s also a very pretty spot with impressive views of where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. Afterwards we had lunch at the beautiful Teputaputa bay. I only wish we’d have had more time there, as I didn’t have the chance to go into the water. (That was the only drawback of this bus tour, the strict timetable.)
Because the tides were in our favour, we were then able to make our way back down Ninety Mile Beach. Our last stops were at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom (where they make beautiful things out of 40 000 yearl old kauri wood, including a staircase inside a gigantic kauri trunk) and a fish and chips place on Monganui Bay.
I do hope my photos from this day will turn out okay – unfortunately I had forgotten to charge my batteries, so I had to buy two disposable cameras and take ‘old school’ pictures for most of the day.
In the evening I saw that Anna (the Swiss girl who’d been in my dorm before) had surprisingly come back, and we met two other Swiss women and enjoyed a nice chat in Swiss German.
Later today I’m going to catch the bus back to Auckland, where I’ll have to spend the night before catching the ferry over to Coromandel. But before that I’m hoping that the sun will come out, as I was planning on going over to the town of Russell with its pretty beach.