90 Mile Beach & Cape Reinga, New Zealand
April 27, 2007
Right after we pulled our tent down the rain started—sprinkling at first and quickly turning to a steady shower. We quickly tossed the rest of our stuff in the truck and got on the road. We continued towards the Far North until we hit the small town of Cooper’s Beach about one hour into our drive where we stopped for a quick lunch of peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches.
The rain subsided and the sun came out in full force about 30 minutes before we arrived at the beach; allowing us to enjoy our lunch and explore the beach and tide pools. As we strolled north along the beach a mid-sized black dog started following us. The dog stayed in between us and the ocean, herding us away from the water, as we walked about a mile to the tide pools; at times
he seemed to be anxious or nervous. He was obviously someone’s dog, but today he was our protector—keeping us out of the water and the swift ripe tides visible from the shore. The dog was very timid, not allowing us to get close enough to pet him, but wagging his tail and enjoying the whole journey.
he seemed to be anxious or nervous. He was obviously someone’s dog, but today he was our protector—keeping us out of the water and the swift ripe tides visible from the shore. The dog was very timid, not allowing us to get close enough to pet him, but wagging his tail and enjoying the whole journey.We said goodbye to our dog and continued up the coast towards 90 Mile Beach and Cape Reinga. Again, I hoped to get a picture of the Cape Reinga lighthouse for my mom since the one on Cape Brett was being renovated. Cape Reinga is the most northern point on the North Island of New Zealand; where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet; making the lighthouse the first site many sailors view when making the journey around the Cape.
The drive to Cape Reinga was very long with the last 20 KM of the journey on a gravel road; however, the coastal scenery was worth the drive. It appeared windy outside as we pulled up to the sacred ground once occupied by the Maori tribes, but we weren’t prepared for the intensity of the wind. We opened the car doors and the wind nearly blew the door off its hinges. The wind was howling at least 60 KM per hour as the two seas collided below us. Marc tried to pull on his jacket and hold onto his camera bag at the same time—he thought he was going to lose both—I quickly grabbed the jacket and recommended he place a foot on the bag.
After dealing with the wind we made the quick trek down to the light house taking plenty of pictures along the way. In the distance we could see the white sand dunes from Te Paki Reserves alongside the bright blue water from the Tasman Sea. The scenery around the lighthouse was spectacular; white caps were jumping off the water, waves were crashing against the shoreline below us, lush green vegetation was being savaged by the winds and all the colors were intensified by the grey-blue backdrop of the sky. After we were completely wind-blown we jumped back in the Territory and headed towards the Holiday Park about 100 KM down the road. The park was located at the most southern point of 90 Mile Beach and we hoped to catch a sunset since we were now on the west side of the island.
We got to the park, set up our tent and quickly headed to the beach. The weather didn’t cooperate with us this time; we had too many clouds to see the sun dip into the Tasman Sea. Oh well, at least I got the picture of the lighthouse for my Mom!
Other notes: I’m currently in the tent writing the blog and the rain is now coming down in buckets! The water level is rising around us and Marc is outside trying to dig a trench to protect us from the rising water.
Oh shit, Marc’s yelling that we have to move the tent because it is practically free floating in the water right… gotta go, more to come.
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