Cape Reinga and sand duning

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We were up really early to catch our dunerider bus up to the north tip of New Zealand. We had about 15 people on tour, 7 of us backpackers and the rest were older Australian couples, so an interesting mix. Our first stop was on top of a hill with an amazing lookout over the ocean on one side and the bay on the other. We stopped for some breakfast and to get lunch in a place called Coopers Beach. Our next stop was at a gum tree farm. It's a lot like amber, or maybe it is amber. I'm not 100% sure on that. Anyways, we got to see how people used to farm the tree sap which they called gum. But this forest in particular is really cool because buried underneath the forest is 2 more forests. One is 150,000 years old and the other is 50,000 years old. Basically the first forest was wiped out due to a meteorite and the second one was wiped out due to the ice age. Interesting! They excavated a bit of the old forest so we got to see some of those trees.

Next up was Cape Reinga. The northern most tip of New Zealand. It was so cool!! There is a lighthouse out there and it's also the point where the Pacific ocean and the Tasman sea meet. This is also the spot where Captain Cook first sailed in. It's also supposedly a very spiritual place for the Maori people as they believe this is the spot where all their spirits leave the earth from.

We all changed into our shorts and tshirts and headed for the sand dunes. You drive along a bit of beach to get there. We all hopped out and all of us backpackers grabbed boogie boards while the older couples took our cameras to take pictures for us. It's a huge trek up to the top and quite a hard walk! It's pretty steep but eventually we made it up. The guide was up there and got me to lie face down on the board while he held it and I looked straight down. It was terrifying and i'm not even afraid of heights!!!

He briefed me on what to do and I'm sure my mind didn't take any of it in haha. A young boy was up at the top and knew I was scared so he just went running and jumped on his board to show me it's all good. Then the guide just let my board go and off I went. The whole time I was thinking "why the heck am I doing this?!?!" But it was fun and you go really fast. To slow down you are supposed to put your feet in the sand to slow you down. Well anyways, I hit a bit of a bump near the end and me and my board went flying into the air and then I proceeded to somersault about 6 times before coming to a stop hahaha. It didn't hurt that much since it was all sand but I had sand in every possible place you can think of.

The young boy was at the bottom when I got there so I asked him how many times he's done this and his answer was "Like my whole life" and then took off up the dune again haha. Trina went down the dune after me and she screamed the entire time but not like one big long scream but like little short screams the whole way down. Hahaha it was hilarious!

We all hopped back on the bus and then drove onto 90 mile beach which is actually only 64 miles or so long. But anyways, the beach is actually a highway and has speed limits and everything. Cops even patrol it. But it's also dangerous and many cars end up stuck in the sand and have to be towed out. There is a part of the beach called the graveyard where a bunch of cars are buried in the sand.

We stopped on the beach for a bit and looked for mussels and shells and stuff before we went to a big souvenir place and I bought a couple things that have the puau shell on them (a necklace and a ring) and a piece of 50,000 year old wood carving (it's really small!)

Then we went to Manganui for fish and chips but obviously I didn't have any fish so I tried battered sausage. Was good. Got back to the hostel and headed straight for the hot tub again. I had a really really fun day!!

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Comments

[Mom]

Didn't take a picture of yourself coming down the dune??? Hahaha... What a beautiful part of New Zealand.

[Laurene]

Haha mom. No we didn't take our cameras up the dunes and the lady using my camera just snapped random pictures. Too bad you weren't there to take pictures for me! Oh well, it was scary but glad I did it in the end!