Advertisement
Published: December 20th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Cape Reinga
The Tasman Sea is on the left and the Pacific on the right. The white water is where the two bodies of water meet. Cape Reinga. My objective, to reach the most northern tip of New Zealand. Accomplished December 18th, 2005.
My present travelmate and roommated Geshe headed off Saturday morning for a weekend of fun and frolick, and stressful driving. I was very excited by my van had finally be completed to my liking and I bought all the necessary things for the trip (camp chairs, cooler, bug spray, camp table) The drive took about 4 hours to reach Cape Reinga. We stoped at a Kauri Museum and experienced the "Kauri Staircase". If you've seen the previous pictures I've posted on here of Kauri Trees, you will understand why I had to visit it, and why it was so impressive.
We then headed straight up to the Cape. The last 20 kms of Highway One (why they call it a highway I have no idea) is pure gravel. And not just gravel, gravel with steep hills, and turns with absolutely no guard rails in sight. This to me, feels worse then driving in a snow storm back in Canada. You have to force yourself not to look over the side of the hill and think what would happen to you if you
DOC Campsite
A beautiful little campground. Free, but very basic. hit some really loose gravel and lost control. I took my time and was pretty careful with my driving. This stretch of "highway" felt like it took two hours to get through, and I was very grateful at having gotten to the Cape in one piece.
Cape Reinga is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet in a (at times) violent meeting. The lighthouse is not manned anymore, it is controlled down in Welllington. This is really the first part of New Zealand that people see when travelling in boats.
After Cape Reinga we went to a local Department of Conservation (DOC) camp ground called Tapotupotu Bay. These campgrounds are very basic, and I mean basic. Cold Showers only, and with no doors for privacy. No fires, because of a fire ban. Drop toilets (I call them Black Hole Toilets) which have signs on them that say kids under 5 need to be accompanied (because they might fall in the toilet, and it goes down a far bit). No electricity, and no drinking water. The minute I got out of the van, the mosquitos starting biting. I think we Canadians really have it good when it
Campsite Beach
Our beach on the Pacific, nice and tranquil in the morning. comes to mosquitos, I really think we do. I have a total of about 20 bites, and I did spray myself with repellent. Geshe and I set up her tent and set up our chairs and went for a swim. A beautiful bay on the Pacific Ocean. Turns out that tide was coming in and we got tossed around a lot. And it was a little cold, but nothing I couldn't handle. My legs were pretty cold and red when we got out of the water. For the rest of the even we sat around and talked, and went shell hunting as we were camped also on a stream.
Since we couldn't have a fire at night, it got dark and we both read for about a half an hour. Me snug as a bug in my little van, and Geshe in her tent. The moon was so bright and full it woke me up a couple of times. I wanted to get out of the van, but the mosquitos were certainly lying in wait outside my door.
About the fire ban, we passed a forest on our way up to the Cape that was completely devestated by
Breakfast Time
Geshe and I having breakfast. a forest fire. Not one set by a campfire, but by a car full of Asian tourtists that crashed and had their car catch on fire. This causing the forest fire. I was just sad when we saw all the blacked trees.....
We both got up early in the morning since heading to bed at about 9 pm, and headed back down south, back down the gravel road they call the main highway in North Island and headed for the Sand Dunes. People Sand Surf down these dunes, but sadly there was no one there we could hire a board from, so we watched people huff and puff up these huge dunes, all the while chuckling to ourselves about their misery.
We stopped for ice cream and coffee (for Geshe) at the closest dairy (variety store) and headed for some good time on the West Coast, Ninety Mile Beach and the wonderfully warm Tasman Sea. Ninety Mile Beach reminds me a lot of the beaches down in South Carolina, hard packed. Well, most people with 4 wheel drives bring their cars on the beach because it is so hard packed. The sand is silky and feels nice compared
to the rough sand that is around KeriKeri and the Bay of Islands. The waves were so big that my bathing suit almost got ripped off me a couple times. Geshe and I laughed and screamed. We felt like big kids again. We also felt like tourists, not working folk staying stationary for such a long time. It feels good to be moving if only for a weekend.
We then headed back to KeriKeri, reality and jobs.
This past week I was invited to my employer's house for Christmas Dinner since I seemed a little homesick when I was telling Tom and Julia about what we do for Christmas and how my family is spending it in South Carolina. Geshe is also coming along with me for Christmas dinner. As for a church I have 2 options. A Baptist church, or a Presbyterian church. I'm thinking Baptist, but I'm still not sure. Most people here either have a BBQ for Christmas dinner, a dinner lacking Turkey, mashed Po-Ta-Toes, and stuffing, or a Vegetarian dinner. Seems it's too hot for people down here to slave over a hot stove for a couple of hours. I'm very excited to meet
90 Mile Beach
Supposedly there were some Maaco Sharks found on shore not far from where we were swimming..... the rest of Tom and Julia's family. They have a younger son called Issac who's 13, a nice well rounded kid. Jake, who I haven't met yet. He's an actor and has been in many commercials in NZ and has also been on a nightly soap operaish type show called Shortland Street (reminds me of Coronation Street). And also another son who is bringing his wife with him (They live in England). It's nice to know you have a place to be and a family to be with on Christmas. Even thought it's not the same as being at home.
Today I received some mail. A nice card and letter from Aunt Ena and Uncle John. I feel very special because I seem to be the only one in the hostel that gets mail, and really nice mail at that!
As a parting note, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone! I don't want to say too much more right now because I'm going to suffer a bout of Homesickness and need many blocks of chocolate to make me feel better. Just know that I'm thinking about everyone at home. If you're travelling, please be safe. Enjoy who you're with, even if it's not with family.
And eat LOTS of Stove Top Stuffing for me!!!!!!
http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_vE.html
That's a map of my route this weekend.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.085s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0546s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Nicole
non-member comment
Nice wheels!
Your wheels (aka: the white van) look very interesting. Send a pic of what it looks on the inside. I'm interested. So, done any surfing yet? Hee hee! How is the surfing there anyways? I sent you a Christmas package about 3 weeks ago to the hostel. I almost had to sell my right kidney to get it there...UPS wanted to charge me 100 dollars for this package to be sent! Yeah right! Good old US Postal Service came to my rescue. You should get it this week. We miss you too. You are hanging in a frame ornament on my pathetic Christmas tree in my apartment. That is...your pic is in the frame...MIss you lots....thanks for the blog. Love Nicole :) XOXOXO