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Published: September 29th 2010
Cape Reinga
very foggy.So today we drove up to Cape Reinga (Te Rerenga Wairua). The weather was overcast and drizzly most of the morning. It was really foggy at the cape, and it was hard to see much around us, unfortunately. The place is a very spiritually important place for the Maori people, as they believe the point to be the place where the soul departs for the underworld. So it was oretty cool to visit. There is a tree out on the edge of a rock by the ocean where they believe the soul climbs downs the roots. It's crazy that the tree is surviving in the harsh environment of rock and sea water. We also walked out to the lighthouse that is out there. At the lighthouse you could look out and see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. Also they have a pole with signs pointing out how far away different cities in other countries are.
On our way back we stopped by Tapotupotu Bay to have some lunch. We ate out by the beach until it got too drizzly and cold. We then went to the Te Paki sand dunes, which are some of the largest in New
Cape Reinga
Te Rerenga Wairua, the leaping-off place of spirits. Zealand (I think) and rented some boogie boards to sandsurf. We started on a small dune (about 10m) and it was fun. Then we had to climb up an enormous sand dune (100m or so). It was really hard because every step up, you slid back some. It took forever to get up there. But the ride down was well worth it. Adam went first and got going really fast. When he got to the bottom he told me not to drag my feet like other people were doing. I went next and also went really fast. My board started to turn at the bottom, and then it stopped...but I kept going. Two barrel rolls later and I stopped too...and was okay. Lots of laughter and sand ensued. Unfortunately we didn't bring the camera to capture all the excitement...but it's probably good since it may have been destroyed! Adam trekked up the dune one more time for a last ride, (I only got part way up) and then it had started to drizzle, so we left. We continued to drive south on the west coast. We stayed the night at Opononi.
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