90 Kilometre Beach (aka 90 Mile)

---

So last major stop in NZ (apart from Auckland) was 90 Mile Beach and Cape Reinga - the tip of the North Island. You can actually drive down the beach (that isn't actually as long as its name suggests!), but we couldn't do this in a campervan because no cars are insured for driving on beaches...keep reading and you'll find out why!

We took a day tour in a bus that was cool but not overly exciting. We stopped at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom to look at carvings and furniture made from wood that was about 45,000 years old. They even had a staircase made out of a giant tree trunk! Soon after we stopped at the best shop in the world. Look at that ice cream for a dollar!! That's 40p!!

Then we stopped at a couple of white sandy beaches before reaching Cape Reinga, which is almost, but not quite, the most northerly point in NZ. It's there where the "2 oceans meet" and some days you are suppose to tell the difference between the Tasman Sea and the Pacific. At the top is a lighthouse and various signposts to London, Tokyo, San Francisco etc. I don't know who they're for.

Next stop was toboganning down some sand dunes. It was good fun, not quite as cool as in South America but maybe because we had to walk up the massive dune each time ourselves! Then we got to go on the long-awaited trip down 90 Mile Beach! The bus took a steady 100km/hr and only stopped on dry sand- look at the pictures to see what happens if you stop on the wet sand!

We've also included some pictures of a fire display at Puhoi. This was a tiny village we stopped at on Sunday and found they were doing a fire display. We got to see a car set alight and the firemen use the "jaws of life". Very impressive stuff!!

Finally, this is our last entry for NZ, we're arriving in Fiji tomorrow, to take a break from carrot-chasing. But, believe me the hassle fo organising 6 nights is unbelievable- they have no phones, one agency that we can find, and only 2 lines describing each resort to go by. If we're lucky, our resort may have electricity 2 hours every night generated from a car engine. So anyway, there'll be no updates for a few days, but tune in next week for the next instalment of.....

THE QUEST FOR THE GOLDEN CARROT!

P.S. Last count: 5,085 kilometres covered in our campervan!! (Excluding 243km up to Cape Reinga, bus to and from Tongariro and 10km on the back of a tow truck! Fan belt went!)

---

Photos

What happens in wet sand!
This mercedes had been there only 12 weeks!

Jaws of life
Look how big they are!

Mt Eden
This is a volcano crater in the middle of Auckland!