Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga 27th - 30th October We decided to spend our remaining days up in the 'winter-less north' at the Bay of Islands, however as per usual we brought some bad weather up with us - more rain!  We did have nice weather for our day trip up to Cape Reinga, the very tip of New Zealand - a Maori spiritual site, where the Tasman and Pacific seas meet.  We had a crazy driver, Auto - just imagine the bus driver, Otto from The Simpsons and you've got the picture!  He even brought his 10 year old son along for the ride, letting him drive the bus along 90 mile beach!  It was a really great day, we even got the sand boards out and rode down a gigantic sand dune at break neck speeds - luckily we didn't come off the boards!  At lunch we got to sunbathe for the first and only time in New Zealand! We spent the next (very windy) day out at sea on a small sailing boat, Gungha II, around some of the 144 islands in the bay.  The skipper, Richard was really friendly and he even got us all involved in getting the sails up and taking the helm of the boat!  Just a shame about the weather, as we ended up getting very wet in the afternoon but it made it all the more fun!