Cape Reinga

June 9, 2011

Early morning today.  We were off at 7 am to head to Cape Reigna.  Eight of us stray mates joined civilians for the Dune Rider.  I didn’t know that we would be driving on the beach, but that’s what we did.  

The Dune Rider was like an adapted semi with a bus for the back.  Because I get carsick the driver, Paul, let me sit up front with him.  So it was like I was riding around in a semi all day!  We stopped for a coffee break and then headed for the beach.  

Ninety mile beach is a long sandy beach on the Tasman Sea where buses and cars can drive down the middle.  In fact it is considered an official road by the New Zealand Government.  It is pretty flat and easy to maneuver--at least Paul made it look easy.

We got out a few times to take pictures and then we went to a huge sand dune to go dune surfing.  Paul said his co-pilot had to go first.  So I was the first person to slide down the sand dune on my stomach on a sand board.  It really wasn’t that scary considering how steep and long the dune looked.  I did it three times.  We all ended up very sandy, but it was totally worth it.

After a quick lunch stop we went to Cape Reinga.  It is the most northern point in New Zealand that’s easily reachable.  It has a beautiful, white lighthouse.  There is also a special tree here where the Maori believe that the spirits of the dead step down into the sea to go to Hawak’i, their heaven.  The whole place was special!  I’d longed to go there for so long and it was so amazing to finally be there.  I wish we had had more time to spend there, but I think I was able to take it in.  

I now know why New Zealanders call Wellingtons Gum Boots.  We visited a site where gum was harvested.  This is the gum that was used as varnish in the 1800s.  This site has a buried forest of kauri trees, which are hundreds of thousand years old.  Then another kauri forest was buried on top of that.  Because of how the kauri tree works there was all this gum buried along with the forests and people just had to dig it up.

Finally we went for fish and chips in Wanganui, a cute little coastal town.  Finally we got back to our hostel where we took turns taking a shower.