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So we had booked the day trip to Cape Reinga which left at 7am. Angharad had gone back to Auckland but on the trip was a few girls I had met during my stay at the bay of islands and Craig. Craig has decided to go out the night before and was sooooo hungover he actually slept most of the trip, some time on the floor of the bus!
So our guide Chris picked us up and he was lovely, knew so much about the island and it's history that it was so nice to listen to him. We made our way up north and picked a few people up (including one of the most annoying and rude men I have ever met but let's not talk about him) and we were on our way. Due to the tide coming in Chris wanted to get us to ninety mile beach as soon as possible. Ninety mile beach is a registered highway in New Zealand so the buses drive down there. Chris explained that it's not actually ninety miles long but the Australians have an eighty mile beach and they wanted to beat them!
So we flew along the beach as apparently it's better to go fast or we get stuck in the wet sand. Chris explained that there is a walk from the top to the bottom of New Zealand which takes six months and there are a lot of tourists which complete it, the majority German tourists and we did actually see one girl walking along the beach on her own. So as we were going down the beach Chris explained that a lot of sea life gets washed up with the tide and no body is allowed to touch it for 12 hours as it can still breath and may get swept back into the water with the tide. Going along the beach we did see a dead shark and a dead baby whale which was pretty big, lots of people took pictures but I didn't.
We stopped on the beach to take some photos (a coach driver chased me with his 52 seater coach which he found hilarious and I was running around the beach thinking he was deliberately trying to run me over) and then we were back on the bus to the sand dunes. The tide was really coming in now so Chris has to really speed through the beach and water to make sure the bus wouldn't get stuck and then we arrived at the sand dunes. The plan was to climb the dunes and then sand board on a small body board down them. Chris was a fitness coach so he made us climb the steepest part of the dune and to be honest I almost thought I wasn't going to make it! Poor craig in his hungover state had to go first and make the initial track, I'm not sure how he managed it! Chris had promised whoever made it the furthest down the dune he would buy an ice cream for. So I got to the top and thought 'sh*t that's do steep, I'm going to kill myself' but then it was my turn to go so I positioned myself on the board and with that I was flying down a 1200m sand dune. You steer yourself by gently tapping your left and right feet down but as I was flying down the dune the guy before me didn't get out my way so I thought i was going to fly straight into him so I should move and then luckily missed him by about a meter! I didn't win the contest but it was good fun! We could have had a second go but I definitely knew I wouldn't have made it up the dune! The whole bus spent the afternoon coughing from all the sand they had swallowed!
We then went to a beach for lunch and then on to cape reinga. It is a light house (a couple of photos I have put in the photo section) and there is a small trail to get here. Craig, Kat and I walked together and took loads of photos along the way and it's just a really nice spot. It's where the the Tasman sea joins the Pacific Ocean and there is a clear distinction in colour. It's a beautiful place.
From there we travelled back down South and visited an ice cream shop where the winners got their ice creams and Chris could wash his bus from all the sand. Finally we all had fish and chips and visited the Kobe trees which are massive. I can't really describe how big they are but the Forest was full of them. I have loads of pics on my camera but I can't upload them at the minute.
We arrived back in paihia had some tea and I was going back to Auckland the next afternoon. The morning I spent on the beach and then arrived back in Auckland at 6pm that evening. That really was the end of my trip as Kat and craig had gone their way so I shared a room with Charlotte and it was Christmas Eve.
We had tea in the room and decided that we would go for a drink in the bar. We spent a few hours drinking wine and chatting and then went back to the room to pack and listen to Christmas songs. The next day I was flying to Melbourne so had to pack my bag, an expert now, and that was my trip in new Zealand finished!
New Zealand is amazing and such a fantastic place to start my travels. I've made so many friends and met a lot of people along my trip. It's a shame the weather wasn't always good but that's the case anywhere I think and I saw a lot more sun than England! On to Australia where the blog continues....
Missing you all and hope you're enjoying the blog!!
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