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Published: January 6th 2010
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Big F in the sand
Nancy climbed up and made this 60 foot 'F' Wow! We can't believe that another week is almost done!
We left Whangerei and continued our journey north - as far north as one can get, by land at least. As usual we visited numerous stunning beaches and arrived at Ninety Mile beach with a little light left to explore. When the tide is out, the beach is not only long, but super wide. There are numerous tourist attractions along the beach (we are quite impressed so far with the way they set up the touristy activities - very nonchalant, no glitz). One of the "things to do" is to drive right on the beach when the tide is out to get to some of those off the beaten track places. However, there are huge warnings for soft-sand, quick sand and sink holes. Plus, rental car insurance offers no coverage what so ever - so we opted out on that!
We stayed at yet another fantastic hostel - Endless Summer, just across the street from the beach. They had the largest dinner table made from one piece of Kauri wood that seated the 22 guests. Next to the beach, this area is famous for their sand dunes. There is
Making the climb
About a five minute crawl up the steep slopes... for a 15 second adrenaline rush on the way back down. Wicked! no way that I can use words to describe how amazing they are. Just imagine 7 square Kilometres of clean, soft steep sand hills (almost mountainous). The best part -- you can climb up them (pretty much using your hands and feet, clawing your way up, huffing and puffing) and then you toboggan down them. Who said we would miss winter activities! It had rained in the morning (our first rain) which made the sand much slicker. What a great rush! We had sand in every orifice. One last funny - there was a little Dachshund that kept following his owner up and down - I had no idea a little dog could be so fit! Pretty sure Mika would have been dead after five summits!
We finally made is to Cape Reinga in the late afternoon and walked down to the light house, looking out to what seemed to be an endless ocean. This is where the waters of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet, breaking together into waves up to 10m high in stormy weather. Returning to our hostel, we stopped at another road side veggie stand. We are taking full advantage of the summer weather
Nancy in the sand
We hiked up over some of the bigger dunes, nothing but sand in all directions!
and buying as much fresh produce as possible.
As we had made our way to the far north, we had to bite the bullet and have a long day of driving to get back south. We spent 8 hours in the car on Wednesday, arriving in Rotorua - the tourist hot spot for extreme adventures. Also, the smelliest city in the word! Due to volcanic activity and the numerous hot spring, the stink of sulphur in the air is sometimes overpowering. Nancy, and her sensitive nose, has almost barfed numerous times!
There is some crazy single track just outside of town. Yesterday we rented bikes and spent the morning flying around some of the best trails we've ever been on! Cyclo-head friends, you ought to make the trip just for this! There are over 100km worth of trails in that park alone.
We have to mention the 'Zorbing' too. We didn't go, but it looked pretty cool. It's like an 11 foot hamster wheel you get strapped into and then they roll you down the hill. Talk about barf city.
But enough babble... we'll get some pictures loaded to tell the rest of the stories!
Sand races
I'm winning.
No, no one else was in the race.
Except the Weiner dog. I kicked his little-legged ass.
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Scott
non-member comment
Wow, awesome pics! Zorbing sounds dirty.