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Published: October 10th 2004
Magic bus with Kauri trees
Kauris are a kind of tree that only grow in the north of New Zealand, and grow to be very tall and straight. Tane Mahuta is a Kauri, and we stopped here to see it.We're just back from a great weekend in the Bay of Islands, in the north of New Zealand. We went with Magic, a company that specialises in backpacker tours and covers the whole country, and takes you to places that you might not find if you were to drive yourself.
On the way to Paihia (the town we were staying in) we went up the west coast of Northland, through forests and past lovely beaches on the Tasman Sea. We stopped to visit Tane Mahuta, the biggest tree in New Zealand (it's massive!). It was a long drive up the west coast, but we finally got to Paihia at about 4.30 (having left Auckland at 8 in the morning...)
The next day was an early start as we were going to Cape Reinga, the most northerly point of NZ (that can be reached by road). We went via 90 Mile Beach, which is a public road, and the coach drove the whole length of the beach. Apparently lots of car drivers get caught out by the tide, and there are lots of cars buried in the sand - unfortunately we didn't see any when we were there. We did
The bus on 90 Mile Beach.
The bus drove the whole length of the beach, and stopped to let us explore the sand dunes and collect shells. see thousands of shells, and if you scrape a couple of inches of sand off the beach there are lots and lots of shellfish - if you knew anything about shellfish you could take them home and eat them.
At the top of 90 Mile Beach we stopped to go sand boarding on the huge sand dunes. It's like boogie boarding on water, only we were flying down sand dunes lying on the boards. Great fun! Graeme went one step further and got wet - see the photos!
After lunch at a lovely beach we made it to Cape Reinga, where there's a lighthouse and a sign post but nothing else. It is, however, the place where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, and you can see a distinct line where the two different coloured oceans meet - pretty cool!
Then it was a long drive back to Paihia, via possibly the best fish and chip shop in New Zealand. It was pretty good!
Sunday was our last day, but we did manage to fit in a visit to the Waitangi Treaty House (the place where whites and Maoris signed a peace agreement in
1840) and a jet boat trip out to the Hole In the Rock, which is a rock with, you guessed it, a hole in it! Actually the hole is big enough to drive a boat through, and the jet boat was pretty exciting - especially since the sea was pretty rough and the boat was bouncing all over the place...
We arrived back in Auckland for tea time, and now it's back to job hunting...
Till next time,
Jo and Graeme x
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