Now you cant say that you have been to Northland unless you go all the way to the top. Cape Reinga is the John O'Groats of New Zealand with warmer weather and more Maori legends. As it was a long was a fair distance to the top from Tutakaka we split the journey by staying a night in Paihia in the Bay of Islands. This is a very popular spot with backpackers and is the main area for taking day cruises out to the many islands to experience "your own island paradise" but we had bigger fish to fry so we decided to press on up to the top on the next day.
The drive was a twisty and turny one and by lunchtime we had got close to the cape. After some arduous driving on unsealed dusty gravel roads we stopped at the huge silica sand dunes to have some lunch and de-dust the inside of the van. (Apparently the seals around the back door are not what they used to be).
Some enterprising soul had set up a business near the sand dunes hiring out boards so you can surf down the face of the sand. We decided (in our own inimitable tight fashion) that we did not need to spend the $15 each on the boards and we would use our own body boards instead. We had forgotten how hard it is to walk up sand dunes. Number one because you take two steps forwards and 3 steps back and secondly because the temperature on the surface is equivalent to the core of the sun. Katie decided to sit out the climb to the top of the big dune which was probably wise because after a gruelling slog to the summit our plan of using our own boards was thwarted as I launched myself over the edge and began my very slow descent towards the bottom of the dune flicking sand into every orifice on the way. We didn't bother doing another run!
Another half an hour on the gravel roads we were at the cape. The Maoris believe that Cape Reinga is where the spirit goes after you die. If the spirit finds the spring at the cape and drinks from it it will continue freely to the afterlife but if it cant find the water then it is doomed to roam the headlands for ever more. More impressive though was that the small peninsular provides the meeting point for the Tasman Sea to the left and the Pacific Ocean to the right. Amazingly as you look out North you can see the convergence of these to bodies of water and as they meet they are hit into each other creating a standing wave and noticeable white water in what is mainly flat water.
After a hack back down the unsealed road we went to the most northern free camp site in New Zealand and this had to be the best that we had been to by far. It was in a nice little sheltered bay with a good healthy surf. The water was plenty warm enough to venture into so we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and body boarding until our hearts were content..
The next day we were to head off down 90 mile beach. This is the quickest way back down south when in Northland as he beach road runs almost the entire length of the peninsula's west coast. We had heard that high tide was 9am. The idea is that you give it 2 hours after high tide and then hit the beach. The maps and guide books are covered with bold warnings about checking tide times, seeking local advice, only doing it in a 4x4 vehicle and letting you know that you probably wont be insured if you drive on this. We had asked a local for the tide time so that was the first two items covered, our van was 4x4 and we didn't have any insurance anyway so no change there!
We hit the beach at 11am and were the first people of the day to leave fresh tyre marks down the virgin sand. It didn't take too long to find that unless you were either driving along in the breaking water or just outside it the van drastically lost speed and began to bog itself in the soft stuff. This is not where you want to be as a couple of rusted out carcasses of stranded cars paid testament to this. Our eagerness proved to be a stumbling block for our drive. We had either hit the beach too early or my lead foot had got us to the bluff too soon and we had to wait 30mins for the tide to go our sufficiently enough for us to drive around this rocky outcrop and then it was plain sailing (well driving really) all the way to the end driving along on a nice straight road with hardly anyone else around. A truly unique experience.
Once we had successfully got the van off the beach I pulled over to unlock the front hubs. It was then that it hit us. Where we had been driving along the waterline we had been flicking a lot of wet sand and spume up into the wheel arches. The heat of the engine and exhaust had packed this under the van and was now emitting a smell not too dissimilar to a half backed rotting haddock. But there was no time to clear this putrid paste off the van as we pressed on south to find somewhere to camp near the huge Kauri forests.