Cape Reinga Day Trip

We arrived in Paihia without incident. I walked around town a bit looking for a haircut and a grocery store. No luck on the cut (I forgot it was Sunday), but I found a store and picked up stuff to make dinner, breakfast, and snacks.

Despite the hostel claiming FREE WIFI and outlets at every bunk, the wifi didn't work and the plugs were in the corner furthest from the bunks. The kitchen, common room, and bedrooms with en suite bath were okay though.

We left the hostel at 07:15 this morning and are now on the road to Cape Reinga, the northern most point on NZ, having already traversed the part of the road that runs along 90-Mile Beach...which is 55 miles long. The story goes that it took the Europeans three days to ride horses down the entire stretch if the beach. Since horse and rider usually made about 30 miles per day, the men figured the beach must be 90 miles long. They didn't take into account the difficulty of walking in sand.

We parked in the middle of the "road" and got out to take photos. After taking our "exit," we drove through a Kauri forest. When we popped out, we saw a herd of wild horses. The Slavic gold hunters brought a few as pack horses then left them here, so now there are a few hundred or so roaming around.

Our next stop was the Giant Te Paki Sand Dunes, New Zealand's tallest dunes. By far. The younguns sand boarded down. I just walked up to take pics and walked back down. Didn't feel like getting sand down my shirt and shorts, and didn't want to risk my glasses. The wind was blowing so hard though, I think I still have sand all over me. I'm not sure what's next, but the bus doesn't get back to Paihia until almost 19:00 tonight, so there's a bunch more stuff coming.

Oh, yeah. I saw a great road sign on the way up. Background: NZ puts "No Exit" in little letters underneath street name signs, as in "No Outlet" or "Dead End." Today's street sign was for Cemetery Road. Hahahaha 😂😂😂.

So long [for now] and thanks for all the fish. ✌️Read more