It was Labour Day on the 27th Oct & our former apt manager & his wife organized a weekend trip to Cape Reinga, which is the northernmost tip of the North Island and about more than 6 hrs drive from Auckland.
We stayed in the Northerner Motor Lodge in Kaitaia – it’s good enough but has a kinda oldish vibe that creeps me out sometimes because it reminds me of the hotel in the Jack Nicholson movie ‘The Shining’ specially when you have a look at the corridors. I keep thinking I'll have visions of people wearing clothes dating back to the olden times everytime I peer into the corridors.
We joined a tour group on Sunday, along with a bunch of Chinese tourists and some old folks. On the way to Cape Reinga , the bus driver/tour guide gave bits of information about the places we were passing by. I was kinda sleepy and you can hardly see anything outside anyway because of the bad weather, so all I got was that there were a lot of wild horses and pigs in the bushes, that fishing is good over there, and that they are developing most of the areas as avocado plantations.
Our first stop was the Rarawa Beach which is known for its powdery white silica sands. The driver wasn’t pulling our leg because I touched the sand and it was really powdery white. If you've been to Boracay or Panglao Island, the sand is sorta similar to that.
We joined a tour group on Sunday, along with a bunch of Chinese tourists and some old folks. On the way to Cape Reinga , the bus driver/tour guide gave bits of information about the places we were passing by. I was kinda sleepy and you can hardly see anything outside anyway because of the bad weather, so all I got was that there were a lot of wild horses and pigs in the bushes, that fishing is good over there, and that they are developing most of the areas as avocado plantations.
Our first stop was the Rarawa Beach which is known for its powdery white silica sands. The driver wasn’t pulling our leg because I touched the sand and it was really powdery white. If you've been to Boracay or Panglao Island, the sand is sorta similar to that.
The next stop is the Te Paki Stream and Sand Dunes. I really wanted to try to climb up and toboggan down, but it’s just too windy – I can hardly open my eyes as sand is flying everywhere. It was literally flowing out of our ears..and hair..and shoes... Some brave ones did have a go at tobogganing though. It was quite interesting to see this kind of landscape in that part of NZ – and it sorta reminded me of the settings for the Star Wars movie (the place where Luke Skywalker grew up).
We reached Cape Reinga about mid noon. The winds were so strong that while I was walking towards the lighthouse it felt like half of my face was being been blown to the other side, haha. The view was awesome though – the cliffs, the green grass contrasting with the blue seas and a lighthouse standing on the end -- postcard spectacular! Apparently, Cape Reinga is where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meets. Because of the strong winds, you can actually see the point where they meet -- the waters were deep blue and you can see the white lines where the waves from opposite sides meet. To the Maori people though, this place is where the spirits of the dead travel on their way to the afterlife.
After Cape Reinga , we headed off and had lunch in a beach called Taputaputa – Nothing much to say here except that we got amused with the name because in Filipino and Spanish, ‘puta’ means b*tch.
Our last stop was the 90 mile beach, which is a misnomer because according to the driver it is in reality only 64 miles – I unfortunately forgot to ask how it came to be known as 90 mile beach. The coastline did seem to stretch forever. And the sand dunes will literally swallow vehicles if you park them in the wrong spot.
We reached Cape Reinga about mid noon. The winds were so strong that while I was walking towards the lighthouse it felt like half of my face was being been blown to the other side, haha. The view was awesome though – the cliffs, the green grass contrasting with the blue seas and a lighthouse standing on the end -- postcard spectacular! Apparently, Cape Reinga is where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meets. Because of the strong winds, you can actually see the point where they meet -- the waters were deep blue and you can see the white lines where the waves from opposite sides meet. To the Maori people though, this place is where the spirits of the dead travel on their way to the afterlife.
After Cape Reinga , we headed off and had lunch in a beach called Taputaputa – Nothing much to say here except that we got amused with the name because in Filipino and Spanish, ‘puta’ means b*tch.
Our last stop was the 90 mile beach, which is a misnomer because according to the driver it is in reality only 64 miles – I unfortunately forgot to ask how it came to be known as 90 mile beach. The coastline did seem to stretch forever. And the sand dunes will literally swallow vehicles if you park them in the wrong spot.
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