Bother it, I was so close! But indeed he had won the sacred prize. Crowned, 'Mr First to Top of NZ, First Us-in-a-bus-ser!'.
But, then we had all done it, we had all made it. We had driven for over 14 months now from bottom to top of this beautiful land; Stewart Island to Cape Reinga. The only goal in mind was to make it to the top. Now we stood gazing out at the incredible views where the two oceans met, allowing the significance of the place to sink in, alongside the significance of the moment that it represented for us personally.
We had made it.
But, as comes with any goal, there is the euphoria of achieving it mixed with the strange sense of, "oh crikey, now what??"
Deciding it was far to close to Christmas to give such a thought too much bearing we just basked in the euphoria, leaving the 'now what' to another day.
Environmental Activism
We had stopped a few nights before in Maitai Bay on the Karikari Peninsula where we spent two nights with our friends who we were travelling in convoy with. The waves there had proved fabulous for body boarding.
The only thing was, this lovely spot was tainted by the copious amounts of dead snapper fish we had found on the beach, apparently the result of fishing vessels dumping them offshore. Dissatisfied with this and never ones to pass up an opportunity for a little public awareness, we picked up all the dead fish and placed them in a row at the entrance of the beach with a little driftwood signage, a simple "why"?
Interestingly, a large digger was bought in, a hole dug and the fish buried the following day....apparently lines of dead fish don't make such a nice entrance to beaches.....
Hitchhikers guide to "how to get yourself on a sailboat for Christmas"
Having psyched ourselves for the momentous journey to the mighty north we convoyed onwards for Tapotupotu - Te Paki Recreation Reserve. The very first park up spot mentioned in the guru book of all Motorhome owners - The NZMCA Travel Directory. This DOC site is as close as you can get to staying near Cape Reinga.
Along the way I stopped to pick up some super awesome hitchhikers. Hamish, having had no internet for a few days, needed to get to the land of wifi thus had meandered off to Kaitaia in the car. The boys and I headed on up in convoy with our friends with the plan to meet up at the end of the day.
My hitchhikers were two lovely kiwi gals on an adventure to see the Cape having just sailed their way up from Whangarei and mooring at Opua.
Being a true case of good fortune, it turned out one of them was headed to the Marsden Cross, Oihi Bay, Gospel BiCentenary on Christmas Day where the first Christian service was held in NZ in 1814 on Christmas Day. Grateful for us giving them a ride up north, they offered us a reciprocal ride to to see this historic event - except this time by boat! We were offered to sail there with her, her skipper and family on the private sailing vessel, 'The Septimus'. Stoked!
Swapping emails we then dropped them off at the turn off point to the DOC reserve, letting them make their way to the Cape, while we settled in our camp for the night. Reaching 9pm, Hamish had not yet arrived. Not one to worry I did begin to wonder just how much we had communicated about where we were meeting. Upon questioning the others they happened to mention that the previous night they had talked of perhaps staying at the other DOC site several km's away...unbeknown to me. Thus, about the time when I realised he had probably gone looking for us there and that I should probably send out the search party (no cell ph coverage round those parts!), he rolled into camp, spare tyre in place and looking a little worse for wear!
Yup, he had gone to the other campsite. Many, many kms away. The car had got a flat tyre, and overall the trip was a shocker. But he made it, and was soon cheered up with promises of sailing trips on Christmas Day.
Sand Duning at Te Paki
Deciding that a little adventure was in order we took on the challenge of Sand Duning the Te Paki Sand Dunes. These dunes apparently can rise to 140m above sea level. As one who slipped, slide and scrambled my way up to the top I think that 140m is being very modest - felt like an enternity just to get up once, not to mention the 4 kids and boogie boards I had in tow!!
Now, from the ground looking up, it looked high to the top. But from the top looking down? It was dang right terrifying. There was a hideous wind howling up there that whipped sand like stinging needles into you and the only way down, was down a very, very steep decline that suddenly felt insurmountable.
Whose crazy idea was it anyway, to take 4 kids to the top of a ridiculously steep sand dune with the thought of boarding down it?? Oh yer....mine. Luckily the more sensible guy waiting at the bottom of the dune with the camera, scrambled up to rescue us down to mid-way to start there.
Having the daredevil in me piqued I decided I had better do it at least once, despite my fear, thus grabbed the board marched to the top, flopped down elegantly of course, (ah, yer not exactly), closed my eyes and started screaming. Then opened my eyes and sheepishly pushed off, hoping noone had heard my pre-emptive cries amongst the howling wind.
Oh. my. goodness. It was fun. And surprisingly controlled. Having satisfied I was not the fearful old mamma I was concerned I'd become, I then assisted the kids with their attempts at getting down the Dunes. Three of them deciding it wasn't their thing, headed back with me to the more sedate mini dunes near the stream. Ole Mr Daredevil 7 yrs took up the challenge and inched his way to the top with Dad, finally plucking up the courage to board the whole dune. Nice!
Both families managed to do some pretty awesome duning and I would definitely recommend it but a couple tips include; don't go in the wind, try to avoid the sun and shut your mouth on the way down! Oh and leave the real estate signs at home, instead take boogie boards with slippery bottoms, you're not 'allowed' to use anything else on the big dune and you'll be required to hire them.
From the Cape
So we had then voyaged our way to Cape Reinga. It had changed significantly to when Hamish and I went there 13 years ago. It was now beautifully pathed with informative posts along the path. I learnt a lot on that short walk to the lighthouse. So much history, beliefs and spirituality represented there.
Having decided we had our fair share of Mossie bites (they were hideous - take every form of protection if you go there!) we packed up on Christmas Eve, said goodbye to our friends and headed south again, taking up an offer to housesit for a week in Kerikeri, much anticipating our newly promised sailing trip.
Replies