Dec 29: Cape Reinga, Giant Sanddunes, Ninety Mile Beach and seeing Kiwis in the wild!

This was an incredibly full day, and we had an AMAZING time.  We hit the road early for the 2.5 hour drive to the tip top of New Zealand, Cape Reinga.  While the technical northernmost point is at the inaccessible Surville Cliffs, Cape Reinga is the place where the Tasman Sea (to the west) meets the Pacific Ocean (to the east). It is also an extremely sacred place for Maori.  They believe that that this is the point where spirits leave this world to go to Hawatiki, the afterworld.  They do this at a solitary pohutukawa tree (thought to be over 800 years old) which clings to a huge rock that juts out into the ocean.

The sacred pohutukawa tree is clinging to the right side of the rock jutting into the ocean.

  

And that's what it looks like when two oceans meet

  

After a few hours at Cape Reinga, we started back south and stopped at the giant Te Paki Sanddunes.  When I say giant, I mean GIANT.  We could have filmed a movie taking place in the Middle East there.  They were at least 50 feet tall and a few were pretty close to 100 feet tall.  Sledding down the steepest sanddune was fun for those watching and those sledding.  Vanessa, Graham, and Elena borrowed boards from a resting family and took a death-defying turn sledding face first down a 100 feet of sand.  Video of these three and others sledding down the hill of death will be posted upon our return to Dunedin in mid-January.

There were crazy sand formations carved out by the wind all over the place.

Vanessa and Graham at the top of the humongous dune they climbed.  I took an easier route up.

Elena and Lorena took the route I took and used my footsteps.

Elena and Lorena faaaarrrr in the distance.

Us, dunes, and the northern end of Ninety Mile Beach in the background.

Yup, the wind was strong.

More crazy sand patterns

Sledding spectators (video coming upon return to Dunedin)

Thinking we hadn't seen enough beautiful, breathtaking and jawdropping sites, we stopped at the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach.  It should actually be called Ninety Kilometer Beach but whatever.  The sun had finally come out, and Graham, Elena, and Lorena took the opportunity to have a swim.  The waves were incredible!  The frequency of waves was remarkable.  Looking out, you could see 6-8 waves coming and breaking at a time.  Todd, Vanessa, and I watched and soaked up the sun, and Graham took advantage of the wind to fly his kite.

Elena and Graham hitting the waves.

Lorena and Elena having a zen moment...until they get hit by a wave.

 

Is there room is this day for yet another cool thing, you ask? YES!  After a bite of dinner, we drove down dirt roads and through paddocks (aka pastures) to meet up with our work colleague, Tania.  Her family was camping just north of Kerikeri on private property owned by a friend.  The reason we went and drove through pastures in the pitch black of night was to see KIWIS!!

Tania said that actual live Kiwi birds (which are noctural) come out at night, and when they camped there last year, they came right up to their tent!  We parked in the paddock and walked down to the campsite.  We turned the flashlights off and chatted for awhile, and then, every so often, this Kiwi spotting family would shine their torch (flashlight) up on the hill to search for these endangered flightless wonders.  We saw two on the hill from about 100 feet away and that would have been enough, but....on our way out of the paddock, we got within about 10 feet of one!!!  It was amazing!! They are about the size of big chickens and move/run like they have their hands in their pockets. If you bend over, put your hands in your pockets and then run, you'll get it.

We were all freaking out, because every guidebook and Kiwi (person) says you'll never see an actual kiwi.  Vanessa and Graham hadn't ever seen a kiwi!  If they had only been holding kiwi fruit at the same time, it would have been Kiwis holding kiwis watching kiwis.  Alas no pictures, but the images are burned into our brains, and the joy will live on forever.

Can you believe this day?  Us either.