For our third day here we had booked ourselves onto a coach for a trip up Ninety Mile Beach to Cape Reinga. The coach picked us up from our campsite and headed down the Waipapakauri Ramp on to the beach. Oliver and William were squealing in delight as we drove up the beach in the surf. After much discussion they concluded that buses in New Zealand must be equipped to drive in water.
Eventually we came to the Te Paki Stream which we proceeded to drive up, in much deeper water, even Sam and I began to take notice then! Our driver/guide proceeded to run through rules for sand boarding and before we knew it we were climbing up huge 100 metre sand dunes with boogie boards! Unfortunately we didn't get any photos as we were having too much fun! Sam boarded down the highest slope and right out across the stream, Oliver had a minor accident with another board and William nearly missed the bus as he wanted one last go! I, on the other hand managed to sedately board down with my board under complete control!
As we headed up towards the most northerly part of New Zealand we heard all about the ancient Kaui trees that used to cover the area but were knocked over and buried, possibly by a tidal wave, 50,000 years ago. Objects carved from the wood of stumps dug up from swamps are very popular and sought after.
Following a lovely picnic lunch and a paddle at Taputaputa Bay we headed to Cape Reinga.
Here we walked to the light house and saw the whirlpools created by the meeting of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
This headland is very important in Maori culture as they believe it is the departure point for spirits. The ancient tree clinging to the cliff in the photo below is thought to mark the entrance to the underworld.
After gazing at the spectacular views we headed back up to the bus. On the way we found ourselves diving out of the way of a motorbike on the pavement - something we thought was exclusive to China!
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