Bright and early the next morning, we headed out for 90 Mile beach, trying to beat the rain. We had been lucky the day before with the weather, but we knew we were in for a storm. It was wild and windy, but we managed a walk without a dousing. (Also, did you know 90 Mile beach is only 55 Miles long?)
We stopped for a quick sandwich break for lunch, followed by the real treat, huge ice creams from the local store in tiny Te Kao! A perfect pick-me-up before we hit Cape Reinga. Can't get much more kiwi than that, bro.
Our last stop before the cape lookout was the Giant Sand Dunes just off to one side, people were gamely boogie boarding down them, but in the rain the best we could manage was a bit of a walk and a photo.
And then at last we reached the tip, Cape Reinga! Known as the most spiritual place in New Zealand to the Maori, they believe all spirits travel up the coast to the Pohutukawa tree here, to enter the underworld.
Wild and beautiful, here you can watch the Tasman sea and the Pacific ocean meet, although just as we began the walk down, the heavens opened and we could see very little beyond the pouring rain.
We were so soaked by the time we were halfway there that we simply embraced it, and strolled through the downpour.
Cape Reinga is of course famous for its lighthouse. This was built in 1941 to replace an earlier lighthouse built in 1879 and situated on the nearby Motuapao island. This was extremely difficult to get to, and in fact lighthouse keepers and their family used a flying fox from the mainland to the island to get there.
I imagine this was rather terrifying and dangerous, and indeed in 1914 the lighthouse keepers wife was swept off the rocks. This led to the construction of the new lighthouse in 1933 in a safer area. Cape Reinga's lighthouse was in fact the last watched lighhouse in all of New Zealand.
Peeling my sodden jeans off one leg at a time in the nearby public bathrooms to get into dry clothes wasn't my favourite moment, and I was looking forward to a hot shower and some warm food. We had booked a little studio farmstay on the west coast on the way back down, and as soon as we arrived we treated ourselves to hot showers.
We were dismayed by the incredibly creepy dolls displayed in the incredibly creepy chair (visible in the background below) but very happy with the homemade dinner our hosts brought us, chicken pie, potatoes and cheesy cauliflower washed down with red wine. Perfect.
The next morning was the last leg of our trip, we took the West coast route back, to change things up. The weather was windy and wild, and we had the roads to ourselves.
We stopped off in the Waipoua forest to see Tane Mahuta, The Lord of the Forest, and New Zealand's largest Kauri tree. This beautiful giant is about 2,000 (yep you read that right) years old, and is still growing!
What an excellent little road trip all in all.
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