Cape Reinga

The Meeting of Two Oceans and a 90 Mile Beach

After arriving in the Bay of Islands I decide to take a couple of days off the bike and give my sore shoulder a rest. I've arranged an overnight camping trip to Cape Reinga which is the most northerly point in New Zealand (almost). At 9am I catch a ten minute ferry to Pahia to meet Sol who is the organiser and driver of the mini-bus. We are: Paul, Andrea, Gisella, Sue, Suzanne, Caroline, Sandy and me. After a picnic lunch at Cable Bay we visit a Kauri Forest and admire the massive trees. They are not tall. but fat! and were once hugely exploited for masts and spars on sailing shi[s and then later for the resin they produce.









Near the cape we are dropped off and left to walk over the heath and dunes to the ocean and then along the cliffs. Then we have to climb up the cliffs before arriving at the lighthouse at Cape Reinga itself. At the camp-site we all help to set up the marquee tent and prepare the barbeque. We spend the evening chatting and drinking before trying to sleep. Lot's of giggling.





After breakfast we go for another two hour hike along the cliffs. The weather is wonderful. We are then driven to 90 Mile Beach (actually only 60 miles) and spend an hour climbing to the summit of huge 200m high sand dunes. This was followed by a quick swim in the surf and another picnic, before returning to Russell.