Cape Reinga & ninety mile beach

Hi All

At the top of Northland is Aupouri Peninsula and at the end of its 116km road is Cape Reinga, almost the most northern point of NZ. There is a lovely windswept walk out to the lighthouse with the cheesy AA signpost showing distances to far off places. By god was it windy, but at the same time is was pretty warm so it wasn't unpleasant but it really does have an end of the earth feeling to it with an 800 year old Pohutukawa tree clinging to the rocks just in front. The roots hide the entrance to the mythical Maori Underworld and it their legends this is where the spirits of the dead leave the earth.  Most of the peninsula was originally covered in Kauri trees, but with the arrival of man that all changed so now it is dominated with commercial timber pines, however down the west coast is the sands of Ninety mile beach (actually only 68!), which are so hard that tour buses and private vehicles drive either up or down it depending on the tides. Unfortunately hire vehicles are prohibited albeit we did drive on at the southern entrance just to say we had been on it! At the top end we ventured down as far as the start again, but really only walked down to the beach just so we could go through the Te Paki Reserves.

  Giant sand dunes which everyone leaps off or toboggans down on body boards. They looked cool, but having already had the unpleasant experience of removing sand from your whole body including most intimate areas you thought sand could never reach (plus its in your ears for weeks after), in Peru, we decided the best route was to watch - chickens that we are! After the marathon drive back again we just had time to catch the ferry at Rowene so we could spend the night at the campsite in Opononi with wonderful views over Hokianga Harbour.

Thanks for looking

Sara