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Published: March 13th 2007
Since I’d missed out on a trip up to the north end, I decided today was the day I wouldn’t be denied. Admittedly, I had a bit of itinerary confusion: I knew I was scheduled to be in Auckland for 2 nights prior to Greg’s arrival, but for some reason the math I’d done suggested that my stay was to start on the 11th, even though Greg wasn’t supposed to arrive until the morning on the 14th. Must’ve been the crossing of the date line that got me mixed up. Anyhow, I was proceeding south on the afternoon of the 11th until I decided to double check my reservation, and sure enough, I turned it ‘round and headed north again with the intent of making it all the way to the north end of the island.
Today was a rather dismal day, with heavy clouds and rain threatening constantly. I was concerned this would be a poor day for sightseeing, but it actually turned out great. Though there were a number of great sights to see along the northern peninsula, I managed to see three, and two of them were worth it.
The first sight of note I encountered
was the Te Paki Dunes Preserve, a bizarre collection of sand dunes and unearthly geological deposits near the end of the northern peninsula. While the goal for me was to make it all the way to the northern end, this was a welcome spot: I managed about 2 hours of romping around on the dunes, with the camera just snapping away. While the lighting wasn’t the best, the textures, colors, contrasts and lines were just too much for this pseudo-photographer. The intermittent light rain was actually a huge plus: it managed to create a hardened layer of sand about 2 inches thick on top of the dunes that made them much easier to climb up. The wind blew hard but were lukewarm in temperature, so while my teeth, hair and camera equipment were full of sand (not to worry Jaimie…it’s all been cleaned), I wasn’t cold. 😊
Next was the lighthouse at the north end of the island (though it’s not the northernmost point in New Zealand). The views here tremendous, and the winds even more fierce. Being at a point this remote in New Zealand that had weather that seemed so unstable and ocean in so many different
directions was cause for a bit of reflection.
The last part of the trip had me driving all the way back down to Auckland, which took roughly 6 hours. It was only 200 km or so, but the winding and twisting nature of the roads made it an exhausting journey. I finally arrived in Auckland at roughly 8 pm to a torrential downpour. Thankfully, the Hilton offers valet parking and wasn’t too difficult to find. I made myself comfortable and crashed for the night.
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