All the way to the top
It was dark when I crawled out of bed just before 6:00 am. I woke Majella, we dressed and started breakfast. Around 6:15 we woke Harry. He ate breakfast and dressed. The sky was lightening with some touches of colour in the clouds as we reached Paihia wharf with 25 minutes to wait for our 7:15 pickup. Majella found a parking space on the street a short distance from the pickup point and where there were no signs limiting parking.
The office was open so I went in to check that the 12:01 am showing against our 2:00 pm cruise tomorrow was not significant. The woman at the desk confirmed that was an aberration but noted there were only 5 booked for that cruise and the weather did not look good. She switched our booking to 8:30 am which had enough booked to be a definite starter.
The coach arrived, we boarded, and it set off. There were a few more pickups on the way out of town but we were heading north by 7:30. As we left Majella reported seeing the sun peep from behind a cloud. We hoped to see more of it today and I did catch a momentary glimpse as we passed through Kerikeri.
The river flowing down to Waitangi was running strongly and brown from recent rain. The countryside was green with more bush than we had seen in most areas further south. At Kerikeri there were orchards along the road and our driver informed us it was the fruit bowl of New Zealand. The sun actually shone for a moment.
As we drove on from Kerikeri there were more bursts of sunshine and patches of blue sky. Still there were dark clouds in other parts of the sky.
The countryside was still green but more rugged with some rocky outcrops visible. Low lying flatter areas looked sodden from rain and our driver described how the area was susceptible to flooding.
As we approached our morning tea stop at Mangonui we passed through a shower of rain but that was finished by the time we pulled up in town. Majella and I had coffee. Harry selected Feijoa organic kombucha and was not impressed by his first taste. At least the bottle was good for him to carry a little water on the bus. We finished our coffee and stepped out for a walk along the waterfront in the sunshine.
From Mangonui the bus drove north and west across to the west coast. As we left Mangonui and drove through Cable Bay we passed by a lot of houses and baches (holiday shacks).
Once we reached the west coast the bus drove north along the ‘ninety mile beach’ with surf to left and dunes to right. Some way on we stopped to walk on the beach. Majella and Harry walked down to check out the water. There was a rain shower visible further north along the beach but we didn’t meet that until we were once again driving north.
Recent rain had swollen streams further up the beach so we could not go all the way on the beach. We left it and took a track through plantation forest to rejoin the road north.
From there we passed through more farmland and a few small villages. Occasionally we caught a glimpse of water in an inlet or across hills to the open ocean. Showers of rain punctuated the journey. We stopped along the way at a high point to look eastward where we could see the bright white of silica sand. It has been mined for a variety of applications but a short respite in mining saw more delivered from the deep.
As we approached the cape, our driver assessed the weather and condition of the road down to Tapotupotu Bay. He thought it looked OK and headed down, cautioning us that if rain got heavy we would need to get out quickly. It was fine when we arrived at the beach so lunch of chicken salad plus crisps and a cookie was issued. As we started to eat the rain began. We went back to the bus to eat but the rain did not last long and we were soon back out for a closer look at the beach.
After lunch the bus took us back up the hill and on to the end of the road at Cape Reinga. We had about an hour there which was plenty of time to walk the graded path to the lighthouse and back and then time to relax. There were views around the coast in both directions and out to sea where a line of breakers marked the meeting of the Tasman Sea either the Pacific Ocean.
A young Swiss couple from Bern had brought their bikes with the intention of riding to Bluff at the south end of the South Island or as far as they could go in 10 weeks. They were completing their preparations as the bus drove off.
Next stop was Te Paki sand dunes for sand boarding. Normally the bus can drive down a sandy track to the slope they use for sliding. Today, after the recent rain, the track was a stream so we had to doff our shoes, roll up our trousers, pick up our boards, wade across the stream, and follow it down a couple of hundred metres, up and down a dune and through the water. To slide, we then had to climb up a dune, lie face down on our board, hold on tight, and brake with our toes in the sand if it got too fast. Majella and I went once each. Harry went four times. Waiting at the bottom we found ourselves in demand for catching photos or videos of other members of our party.
We left that area about 3:00 pm, drove out to the highway, and headed south the way we had come this morning. We’d had one brief sprinkle of rain as we were walking off the dunes and there was another as we drove south.
It was after 4:00 when we stopped at Awanui to change bus. We had been told about the change for a clean bus free of our sand and surmised that there must be some facility for cleaning there. The stop was long enough to get refreshments at local stores. Harry had a large passion fruit ice cream cone. Majella dug in her bag for a biscuit. It was far too late for her to have coffee. I had a Barista Bros double espresso iced coffee to perk me up.
It was 5:00 pm before we were rolling again. Then it was east and south toward Paihia. The rain had stopped while we were at Awanui but started again soon after we moved on. We had scattered showers on the way back to Paihia.
We arrived back in Paihia a little after 6:30, about 30 minutes later than advertised, but it was still daylight so not a problem. We were all tired from a busy day so we bought takeaway – burgers and chips – from the same store as last night. We ate that at home and Majella did some laundry to ensure that Harry has something clean to wear for the next couple of days. Tomorrow will be an earlier start than we had planned but not as early as today.
