Far North Adventures: Part 2

After a wonderful sleep in our luxurious apartment, we woke to another incredible sunrise, had a quick but delicious breakfast of banana French toast in a cafe steps from our door, and boarded a bus right out front that whisked us away to another day of adventure with only five other day-trippers.

Dennis, our Maori guide and driver, regaled us with stories and songs as we travelled north towards the very tip of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. Along the way, we stopped at the Ancient Kauri Kingdom, where the salvaged wood of these giant trees is carved into decorative items and sculptures. The kauri tree is a giant along the lines of the California redwood. Sadly, two things have happened to make these trees very rare, and it is now illegal to cut any of them down. First, early pioneers felled many of the trees for lumber and to clear the land. By the time the Europeans arrived, however, many of these giants had already been toppled by some catastrophic event that even scientists today can't agree on--a meteorite? an earthquake? All they know is that the trees are all lying in the same direction, and obviously fell at the same time. However, over centuries they were buried in layers of peat. So today's woodworkers can only work on kauri logs that they dredge out of the peat bogs and dry out until the wood can be worked. Needless to say, it is very expensive to obtain and process. Frank was told that every board in this stack would be sold at $14,000 per cubic metre--not cheap!!

Under the peat, the sap that seeped out of the broken wood hardened into an amber-like gum that could be processed into varnishes and other products, and there was a time when gum digging was a huge industry in New Zealand. With today's plastic resins, the kauri gum has become just a souvenir item, but occasional finds of things preserved in it are still treasured, such as this entombed lizard (shades of Jurassic Park!).

Some beautiful sculptures are still made from the larger pieces of kauri wood. This one, of the famous Whale Rider of Maori legend (remember the film?) was especially lovely, I thought. We watched that movie again the other day and were amazed at how much more we got out of it, having now seen the country and its people.

Further north we stopped at a beach said to have sand with the highest silica content in the world. As a devoted world sand collector, you can be sure I filled my pocket with a handful of this pure white stuff! Hope some customs agent doesn't think it's something else on the way home.

Onward to the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, NZ's northernmost point, and a site very sacred to the Maori, who believe that, after death, their spirits depart from NZ at this cape, and travel back to their ancestral Polynesian home. It's certainly a long way from OUR home, as you can see by the mileage to Vancouver from this point (6059 miles/ 1222 kms). It is here that the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean become one.
Lunch was at a beach whose Maori name means 'the descending valley of beauty.' It certainly was beautiful, with fascinating, very tropical-looking tidal pools. It's also a great surfing beach--these guys managed to surf tandem!

Next stop, a new adventure: dune surfing! Or should I say, dune tobogganing, as few risked the hazards of standing. I decided to skip this thrill, but Frank gave it a whirl and shook sand out of every body part for the rest of the day! He said it was fun, though!

To our surprise, our driver then drove our bus straight up the freshwater stream leading to the ocean at Ninety Mile Beach (a misnomer, as it is really just over 60 miles long). We zoomed along the low tide line in a convoy with other tourist buses (that's our bus in the foreground), heading back south, and observing the sad fate of a car whose joyriders ignored the rising tide! Along the way, Dennis kept us entertained with Maori songs, and I had the privilege of being feted with a 'Happy Birthday' in English and Maori, as I had the nearest birthday of the group. A pretty special way to celebrate my upcoming 50th, I'd say.

Again, this is a trip we would highly recommend--the cape roads are very tricky to drive and best left to the experts--this way, everyone gets to relax and enjoy the scenery, plus the local history and culture as supplied by the guide.

Back in Mangonui for the second night, we went back to the 'world-famous' (and deservedly so) Mangonui Fish and Chips where they deep-fry your fish just hours after it's been caught--truly the very best fish and chips I've ever eaten. Stuffed full and satisfied, we watched the sun set over the harbour and the last fishermen on the jetty. As we strolled back to our apartment, a full moon rose over the still-pink sea--did we tell you that we love New Zealand?