North - to the sun

We took a bus to the north end of the north island of New Zealand, and we actually got to see the Tasman Sea meet the Pacific Ocean. It was incredible to see the two oceans collide. If you look closely at the images in the photo album, you can actually see the Tasman's green waves crashing into the deep blue of the Pacific. Obviously, it is hard to capture the grandeur with a simple digital "point and shoot" camera, but hopefully you get the gist.


We stayed in a small town called Paihia, and took a "Magic Tour" bus driven by a nice fellow named Tai. He was a local and had lots to share about the area including history of the Maori tribes, the beaches, and of course sand dune surfing (we'll get to that later). On the drive north along the western coast, we drove on Ninety Mile Beach - that's right ON THE BEACH. Apparently, the beach isn't really ninety miles, but Tai said that they had a hard time selling tickets to the "sixty-four and a half mile beach". I think I'd have gone anyway, considering how wild it was to drive on the beach.


Next, we stopped at some sand dunes and grabbed some boogie boards. After a short but strenuous hike to the summit, we hopped on the boards and surfed down. It was wild! The pictures don't do justice to the experience, so watch the video. We would recommend it to anyone who makes it this far north. We each only had about three trips trips up the dune in our legs but could have taken many more rides down.


Finally, we visited Cape Rianga. This is the north-most point of the north island, and the closest we can get to the equater while in NZ. It was hot but, as mentioned above, spectacular. According to Tai, this is the place that the Maori believe is the jumping off point for a person's spirit after they die. I can see how this spot could be considered a spriritual place, with the collision of the two oceans and the wind and all. I could have stayed A LOT longer, but alas travelling on a bus has its drawbacks.

We returned to Paihia on the Eastern coast, so we were able to see both sides of the island on this trip. Paihia is an interesting place, as it is where the New Zealand Declaration of Independence was signed. More about this in the next post.