New Zealand 2018 - Part 2

September 29, 2018 – The Far North - Saturday

Puketi Kauri Forest - Cape Reinga - Te Paki Stream, Sand Dunes (Surfing) - Ninety Mile Beach

We are up at 6 am so we have time for breakfast and still be ready for a 7:20 am pickup. We try to select hotels that include breakfast so that we are not spending our time looking for places to eat before going on tours.

 The Fullers Great Sights (www.dolphincruises.co.nz) coach is right on time and our driver/ tour guide, Tonya, greets us with a warm smile. We stop at several additional hotels to pick up other tourists. Our trip is scheduled for eleven hours with 2 snack and bathroom breaks and a lunch break.

Our first stop is the PuketiKauriForest. This forest is the home to some of the oldest and thus largest Kauri trees. There is a boardwalk that allows you to walk in the forest without damaging the trees and other vegetation. Besides being enormous, they remind me of the Redwood trees in California. They produce a large amount of sap that hardens into an amber resin that is still used today.

 As we continue driving toward CapeReinga, Tonya, who is native Maori, gave us a running commentary about the towns we are passing: Kaeo, WhangaroaHarbour, MangonuiHarbour, Taipa, DoubtlessBay, Awanui, and Kaitaia.  We are driving 2 lane roads with many single lane bridges. The countryside is beautiful with ranch after ranch of cattle and sheep. The roads are curvy and hilly but very well maintained. Since it is spring there are road repairs happening in lots of areas. At first, I was disappointed that we were not stopping at these towns but by the time we arrived at Cape Reinga, I realized that the distance we had to cover did not allow time to stop in our one day tour.

 At last, we arrive at CapeReinga – what a surprise – the lighthouse is down a steep hill not at the higher elevation of many other lighthouses. We chose to walk only part of the way to the point where we could see and get some photos of the lighthouse and see where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea come together is a beautiful sight.

 Te Paki Stream with the dunes for sandboarding was our next stop. The dunes are vast and seemingly endless. Tonya navigates the narrow bumpy road on to the stream bed and drives us to a section that has lots of smooth sand. We decide to be spectators and enjoy watching our bus buddies exhilaration as they rode the dunes. There were several young children in our group and they were really fun to watch.

Last stop is the 90 Mile Beach, which isn’t quite 90 Miles, Tonya explained. Again off-roading to get to the beach (can you imagine on a full-size bus?) was surprisingly smooth. We all walked on the smooth hard sand some dipping their toes in the icy water. Then Tonya drove us along the beach for about 10 minutes until we reached the next exit point.

Back on the road again for the long ride back to Paihia. We were all exhausted. The children with us were surprisingly well behaved during the entire almost 12 hour day.

September 30, 2018 – Sunday

Today is a planned rest day to do laundry and catch up on writing. Tomorrow is another tour, “The Bay of Islands” area.

***Michael and I joined Goldrush Getaways Travel Agency, as independent travel consultants, in May of 2017. We have been low key until now (January 2019), testing the waters with domestic travel and taking many classes. This is the third big trip for us and each has been a total success!!! We are now ready to actively help others with their travel needs. Contact us at 410-929-1732 or mytravelinglady@gmail.com