We spent this past weekend visiting the far north coast, 90 mile beach, and the very top of NZ at Cape Reinga. The weather was picture perfect - clear blue skies during the day and barely a breeze. And just because we're not off adventuring on the boat doesn't mean we can't have a little excitement on land! Our first attempt to drive on the beach left us about 50 yards from our entry point, and stuck in some very soft sand. In other words, we didn't get very far.


The view about 1 minute before we got stuck in the sand

Luckily we didn't get too deep into the sand and were able to back our way out by hand-scooping a path behind the front tires, and receiving a strong push from some friendly kiwis passing by. We wouldn't be making that mistake again twice! Or would we...

So having been saved from becoming another stranded vehicle abandoned to the sea, we opted to drive back to the main road and instead take the well-proven highway all the way north. Cape Reinga is the northern most tip of New Zealand where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It is known for its dramatic scenery where these two oceans clash, especially during stormy weather. Well, we'll have to save that for another day as well, as we had the next best thing - a perfectly calm sea with bright clear skies. We could see all the way to Three Kings Islands - 3 small islands about 35 miles north of the cape. Since we didn't quite time our visit with a good storm, this was the next best thing.


View from the cape


The end of the cape with the lighthouse in the distance


John and Cape Reinga Lighthouse


The lighthouse all to ourselves


Some perspective on the lighthouse


Which way to...???


Vancouver only 6059 nautical miles away.

So... on our way back south, we took another turn off toward 90 mile beach just to check out the scenery.


90 mile beach looking north


90 mile beach looking south


John walking 90 mile beach

And, of course, we had to try the beach drive again. This time - success! We made our way across a little stream running onto the beach, kept our speed up, and off we went heading south with the dunes to our left, and the RISING TIDE to our right! It was a little nerve racking as we flew down the beach - with our last little fiasco fresh in my mind! But John was determined to conquer this beach, and conquer it we did! We drove for about 20 minutes, making it to the first access point we had tried earlier in the morning. This time we went to the south side of the beach access road, where the sand was a bit more compact - and we made it back on dry pavement to head back to our bach for the evening.

We stayed at a really nice beach house (or "beach bach" as it is called in NZ) for 2 nights. It was in Cooper's Beach and had a wonderful view of Doubtless Bay.


Foggy morning view from the bach


Sunny afternoon view from the bach


Walking Doubtless Bay


Sunset view from the bach

Both nights we also ate our share of some very good fish and chips. The best being from 'Out of the Blue' in Cooper's Beach. A definite 'must' if you are in the area! Sunday we drove west to Ahipara, a pretty little coastal town where we had a nice takeaway lunch and flew our kites on the beach.


Let's go fly a kite!


More fun than he expected!

Next time - maybe we catch the cape during a big storm! Either way it makes for a very scenic and enjoyable weekend.