Blustery fun on Ninety Mile Beach

Daniel drove us down the stream to the sand dunes at the end of Ninety Mile Beach.

Ninety Mile Beach is, in fact, about 55 miles long. Stockmen reckoned they drove their animals about 30 miles in a day. As it took them three days to drive the stock along Ninety Mile Beach, by definition (they calculated) the beach must be 90 miles long.

After Daniel’s lesson on dune boarding the young and the super-active members of the tour trudged up to the top of the dunes. I thought the top of the dunes looked vertical, but sand does not stay put at 90 degrees, the experts tell me. Iggy says the “angle of repose” for sand is 34 degrees, but will go to 45 degrees if it is wet. 34 degrees looked steep enough to me.

Speed fiend Iggy dune boarded right from the top. His reward was sand through every fibre of his being.

The learner slopes were fun enough for me.

We had to wait for the tide to go out so that when the coach drove us down the beach we would be able to get around a rocky headland. In the meantime, we chatted with the fishermen who hauled in this catch, plus some, in the forty five minutes we had been playing on the sand dunes. Notice the mako (shark) in the background.

Watching the sand gust along the beach and the waves crash to shore was mesmerising. I stopped, I breathed, I realised I was far from civilisation and on holiday. I grinned broadly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cape Reinga – where the spirits depart for the homeland

Kupe, the earliest known voyager from Hawaiiki, the homeland of the Maori people, named Cape Reinga Te Rerenga Wairua, the path of the spirits. After the death of a Maori person, the spirit leaves from Cape Reinga, the northern most point of New Zealand. As it reaches the Three Kings Islands, the spirit turns to wave a final farewell and returns to distant Hawaiiki.

Daniel, our driver, instilled in us a respect for the deeply spiritual nature of the area. He made it clear that no food or drink was to be taken beyond the carpark and all rubbish was to be brought back to the coach. To discourage picnicking, there are no rubbish bins. There is something special about a spot like this – a dynamic vista, beautiful plantings, immaculate pathways, tourists galore – and not a pay and display machine, ice-cream vendor, coffee van or merchandise shop in sight. The magnificence of the place was all we needed.

When you look out from Cape Reinga, you can see the waves coming from two opposing directions – from the Tasman Sea on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Sometimes, there is a distinct line where the two oceans meet.

A blustery walk from the bus to the lighthouse.

Iggy looks out from the Cape Reinga lighthouse.

Iggy took a photo similar to this one at Bluff, the southernmost point of the South Island. So here I am at the northernmost point of the North Island.

 

 

 

The start of a day on an Explore NZ tour bus

Daniel our driver picked us up from Club Paihia in Dune Rider at a time when I am more usually still snoozing. Dune Rider is a specially converted vehicle with a truck front and a coach body, purpose-built for the Northland tour. 

Before we embark on our travellers’ tales, let me introduce Daniel. I am a generally a bit apprehensive about being a coach passenger – vivid memories of Auckland bus drivers running red lights and jolting to a halt when I was a regular bus passenger commuter. Daniel’s calm and considerate driving quickly quelled any fears. Also, I can be tetchy about tour commentaries – especially about those sparse on fact and overloaded with wisecracks and cheap shots. Daniel, however, provided a most eloquent commentary – knowledgeable, interesting and friendly. His deep spiritual connection with the land added a rich dimension to the tour. We were in the best possible hands for an 11 hour journey.

First stop Taipa. Ahhh! coffee!

Our packed lunches were ready to be picked up at Taipa. Once again, Explore NZ got it right – grainy bread sandwich with lots of meat and salad filling, bottled water, a piece of fruit and some slice – pretty much exactly what I would have chosen for myself. (I promise, I have no personal connection in any way with Explore NZ. I am just a happy customer!)

Next stop – the Gumdiggers Park.

The English call them Wellingtons or wellies – and we call them gumboots. Why? Because these were the boots that gum diggers wore, of course! How did I reach this age without knowing that before?

Through the manuka bush …

…to an ancient kauri log, estimated to be between 100,000 and 150,000 years old. The log has a girth of around nine metres.

Apparently, in all the buried forests in this area, the trees have fallen in the same direction. Mysterious. The most popular theory is that the kauri forests were felled by tsunami or meteorite strikes. The chemistry of the peat swamps has preserved rather than fossilised the fallen trees.

When kauri trees lose their branches, the sap drips to the ground and hardens, becoming the prized amber coloured kauri gum. The English immigrants dug the peat swamps for buried kauri gum and exported it back their homeland as it was used to make varnish, linoleum and perfumes. The images below show the well ventilated shelters where the gum diggers would have lived.

The sieves used for washing the peat off the pieces of kauri gum found by the gum diggers.

The walk through the trees and past the gum diggers’ accommodation came out at a clearing where there are young kauri, manuka and ferns.

I had not previously heard of Gumdiggers Park. When I asked others on the tour what was the highlight of their day, Gumdiggers Park rated the top mention.

Our next stop was a better known New Zealand landmark – the northern most tip of the country, Cape Reinga.

A stroll around Paihia

Just a couple of minutes from Club Paihia is a wonderful variety of scenic treats – historic buildings, the sea, and some peculiarly Paihia features.

St Paul’s Church, built in 1925 on the site of New Zealand’s first mission station. The mission was founded by Englishman, Rev’d Henry Williams.

The Paihia public toilets, or – in Maori – wharepaku. Whare means house. It’s anyone’s guess what paku means! Take a close look at the stylish planter bowls on the building’s roof and front wall.

The roof of the Paihia public toilets.

The view to the north.

Along the beach.

A cottage garden surrounds the Paihia Library which is housed in the historic Williams homestead.

We weren’t in Paihia to shop – so it was something of a sad relief when a gloriously hued jacket made of handwoven fabrics and felt, displayed in an art gallery window, proved to be the wrong size. Go to Creative Get Up to see Sandra Thompson’s finely handcrafted wearable art.

Couldn’t you just see me in this? I swear, I would wear it everywhere I went.

We were happy to fend for ourselves food-wise. However, an advertisement for seafood chowder lured us back to The Pier one evening. The chowder was packed with seafood and served with crispy garlic bread and a generous bowl of steamed fresh mussels. Washed down with a large glass of the house red, it was a most satisfying and economic dinner out (less than $30 for us both for food and drink).

Club Paihia, Northland

My relationship with Iggy came complete with a timeshare. Previously we stayed in Taupo in winter. This year, yearning for warmth, we chose to have a spring-time holiday at Club Paihia in the north of the North Island. We hit a week of New Zealand-wide extreme wild-weather conditions, with Northland getting the best of a bad deal. We know how to enjoy wild wet days. We settled in with a pile of books and Sky TV, which we don’t have at home. (If you are looking for an engaging read, I recommend “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I went on to a recommendation of Iggy’s, “Red Runs the Vistula” – a gripping autobiographical account of a prisoner of war escapee working for the Polish resistance movement.)

Our unit was spacious, well-equipped – and at the top of a steep hill. We had no trouble ensuring there were five minutes of good hard uphill puffing each day! We were rewarded with privacy and a view over the valley.

This was the first time I had experienced resort hosting. We enjoyed meeting the other guests at a drinks night. Tourist activity providers’ presentations on local activities whetted our appetites and, unusually for us, we did sign up for a tour. On the days when the sun did shine, we ventured far and wide from Club Paihia – the subject of future posts.

Northland’s Club Paihia Resort.

Graceful gardens

Crafty totems – must look out for some interesting pots and vases and try this at home.

If the weather had been warmer, the pool would have been most inviting.

Brown Sugar in Taihape

We seem to be up and down the road between Hamilton and Palmerston North quite a bit for various reasons – chiefly Iggy’s granddaughter, perhaps :-). I think we’ll have to make a habit of dropping into Brown Sugar up a side street at the northern end of Taihape each time we travel. The menu is different each time we drop in, the food divinely home-made tasting and the décor is fun. I really like the kids’ play area here – the kind of play area that would keep my brothers engaged for hours and hours when they were little boys. It’s not a red and yellow plasticky thing that adults think should be appealing to children, but a genuine play area where kid’s imagination can roam free and parents watch from a discreet distance while they enjoy Brown Sugar’s excellent coffee.

How you know you are at the right place.

The threshold gives a hint of what’s to come.

Charming giftware.

Excellent company!

Eye-catching décor.

Fun furniture.

Cottage garden.

Somewhere that kids can be kids – and grown ups can sit back and be grown ups.