Cape Reinga

Day4 - Cape Reinga…

Got a long hot shower at the upscale campground. The sun was out, a slight breeze blowing. We packed up, the bungee cords purchased yesterday invaluable in securing the bikes in the back.

Cruised down to the little ferry which would bring us back to the mainland, remembering how to drive left yet again. The ferry pulled up just as we did, excellent timing.

Decided to take a pic of N.Z. cash for you….

It’s plasticy to touch, slightly smaller than “murican money. No pennies. Everyone rounds up or down. Nice idea. I hate pennies.

Cruised north along the winding coastal roads, again reaching Paihia, where we decided to fuel up. Did the math, we’re getting roughly 30mpg, even along these torturous roads. Diesel was $1.50 per liter, so, not bad. We’d budgeted for much more.

Followed the impeccable two lane north, through hills and valleys, the pavement unrolling like a smooth rollercoaster. I was wishing for a bike, in fact, I’ve only seen 3-4 motorcycles so far, where the whole Island is a mecca. That one tiny , for example, drive to Russell alone puts anything including the fabled…., “tail of the dragon” in North Carolina to shame. It is midweek, though. Maybe the bikers are weekend warriors here.

T-boned into highway 1 again, the main road north.

Billed as the secondary route north, “Ninety Mile Beach” is a 50 plus mile stretch of flat hard sand that many locals use to get around, there’s even a bus tour where they’ll drive the bus through the surf along the beach.

The beach….could be the Pacific off Washington….

Denise spotted some surfers, mere dots. Zoom lens helped…

Unfortunately, KEA campers has 3-4 routes here that are “forbidden”, 90 mile beach is one of them. I’d have chanced it, but there are multiple warnings that the access points are often impassable except for 4X4’s, there’s no cell/help/tow services for miles, many vehicles are lost to the oncoming tide, and there are patches of streams and soft sand that are unpredictable…. And….

O.K.!!! Enough!! I’ll stay off the beach.

Limit’s only 100kph, anyway. Weird to see a cop car patrolling…

The final 20 kms to the cape is unpaved. I was cool with that, but they’re working on paving it. Construction . Rough roads. Lax traffic workers.

I’ m glad it’s a rental. Fine silt from the dust storms of oncoming vehicles begins to slowly permeate, settling in an ultra fine dust coating Everything.

Finally started climbing, the dirt road clinging to ridgelines with alternating stunted dense forest groves and lush green pastures falling away to both sides.

Reached a sign proclaiming “ Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes!” …. Oh, come on… you know you would too.

Wow. Huge dunes just swallowing the forest. Surreal. We climbed on and on, watching the sand boarders slide on their Teflon-shod boogie boards down the steep slopes, only to have to slog back up.

The climbing SUCKED. For every step, you’d slide back half a step. Hot. Dry. We clambered to the top, where more dunes spread out in all directions. We headed toward the ocean, but realized after about an hour of walking that we were getting nowhere and still had to get back.

Turned around, walking back to the steepest slope. I rapidly “plunge stepped” down, taking huge strides, digging in a heel only to drive off again, much like descending in deep snow. Fun.

Got to the bottom, poured the quart of sand out of my shoes, and we got back on the road.

Cape Reinga is under construction, We parked in a makeshift lot and walked the footpath to the lighthouse.

Beautiful. The northernmost point on N.Z., where two oceans collide. The water was a confused mess, waves from two different directions fighting, leaving a churned area just offshore. Standing lines in the water delineated where the currents butted heads.

The lighthouse stood resolute, but it looked like the touristy “signpost” ( you know… 5000 miles-South America… that kind of thing) was not all that well thought out, as not one of the 8-10 signs remained, the ¼ aluminum remnants looking torn and fatigued, unable to resist the winds at the tip of the world. At first I thought it was vandals, but Denise figured the wind was a much more likely culprit, and I concur.

Returned the way we’d come, as the light was getting low and we needed to get to our campground at Pukenui.

The dust? Multiple wipedowns only succeed in smearing it around. Fine grained stuff.

Sleepy. Long day, got a little too much sun on the dunes. Cooked a small meal here in the camper, finally finishing typing this, getting ready to snooze. Enjoyed a small glass of the local Absinthe, nice louche, nice taste when diluted with some water. Shame bringing back alcohol is such a pita, especially with the TSA involved as well.

Also, we’re taking 100-150 pics per day, get ready for an overload when we finally find some internet.

Goodnight.

P.S., still haven’t figured out the campervan security system, having the truck go into full panic mode is almost a daily occurrence. Not good for neighbor relations.

Finally, got Gimp downloaded, so you'll notice most of the pics in this post are normal web sizes. They limit megabytes as well as time, here, and the huge photos were killing my posts and costing lots of cash. So, expect more updates with more regular sized pics from here on in.