Bay of Islands Trip Day 2- Paihia to Cape Reinga

So today was a VERY long day.

We took a bus tour called the Dune Rider up to Cape Reinga for a day trip today and it started bright and early! First we drove out onto this beach 90 Mile Beach, and I’m not even joking you, it was like 90 miles long, it just never ended. Here I meet this really friendly German girl that our paths keep crossing, she’s been traveling around NZ as well. There are actually a lot of Germans and Europeans here, way more than North Americans I am finding.

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Me and Riccarda! <3 My German friend

After our lovely scenic drive we stop as some sand dunes just off the beach, where I got the chance to try out some dune surfing! It was pretty sick, more pictures and videos of that to come!

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Sand Duning

After we where all successful sandy, we then drove to down to this remote beach just a few km or so from the Cape. Now I don’t know the name of it, but it was stunning, and of course I had to jump in for a quick swim to wash the sand off.

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After lunch, we finally got a chance to head up to the Cape Reinga, and we where fortunate enough to have very little wind today, where as in most cases, it can get extremely windy. Now I haven’t seen a lot of things in this world, but honesty, this place MUST be one of the most gorgeous places in the world. I can’t even describe how stunning it was, and I know pictures NEVER do justice to these places.

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I love it that every time I look at these photos I am still stunned by how amazing they are. ANYWAYS! On the way back to Paihia we stop at this Gumdiggers Park where we got a chance to learn a bit about New Zealand history, which to nerdy people like me, I found it quite amazing, but I can see it be rather boring to some. Gum for those that don’t know is resinous sap from damaged Kauri trees that has congealed into hard lumps and then falling onto the ground and after thousands of years, hardens to form fossilized Kauri Copal (aka, NZ Amber). Gumdiggers are the people that dig up the Gum.

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It’s actually crazy to think that in that pit are trees over 46,000 years old! It’s part of the buried forest that was covered in the last ice age I believe.

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Here is an example of a piece of Ancient Kauri Gum.

-Nadine

4 comments

  2. Jade says:

    That beach is called Te Paki – right next to where you went duning….it’s good fun huh!….you would have gone up the west coast (90 mile) and back down through Mangonui (did you stop there for fush n chups?) – Northland is my home šŸ™‚ – where are you now? Still in Paihia or back to Auckland?

  4. Nati says:

    Hey girl! Im Nati from Argentina… im planning to travel to new zealand very soon… I saw your videos and definitly i wanna talk to you cause you were in a lot of places.
    I think you can help to plan my trip and choice the best and most beatifull palces…

    Thanks nadine… see u

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