Ninety Mile beach and Cape Reinga

We were so incredibly lucky to have the most perfect weather for our bus tour along the 90 mile beach, which is actually only 65 miles long. It was a phenomenal tour, with an excellent tour guide/driver, Daniel, who was very used to driving on the beach, knowing exactly where to veer to the side to avoid soft sand or flooded streams.And what amazing weather too.

 Although it was quite a bit before high tide, there was still a fair amount of water covering parts of the beach.  I can imagine that dozens of tourists get bogged down in the deep sand, when they try to avoid the shallow water, and opt for soft sand instead

There was a stop at Te Paki sand dunes, 150 metres or so in height and extremely long. They were definitely as impressive as the Dune de Pyla at Arcachon. I would have loved to sledge there, but the height and the fear of damaging knees again, quickly helped me err on the side of caution. Even Dennis didn't fancy it. Pity! It did look incredible fun! We enjoyed doing a bit of photography instead.

 Before stopping at Cape Reinga, we had a great lunch stop at quite a remote surfing beach. It was a buffet style barbeque, not fantastic, but the scenery and temperatures made up for it!
 For years I have wanted to get to Cape Reinga, the point the furthest north in New Zealand, and here I was, sharing this breathtakingly beautiful view with my dear friend Dennis.  The meeting of the Pacific and the Tasman Seas is stunning. It was marvelous to be there out of season. It must be packed in high summer, as would be the Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Hobbiton and Coromandel.
 On the way back, we stopped at a lovely tea rooms in Kaitaia where there were magnificent Kauri swamp carvings. This one below particularly caught my eye. I would have loved to take it home, but at about 2 metres in height, I could not get it into the luggage!! Pity.
Luckily we arrived back in Paihia in time to see a spectacular sunset - in my Bay of Islands Blog.

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