05/11/2016 I awoke at 5.20am again - this is not surprising in the least, the noisy bird was up to its capers again - as mentioned previously though, I needed to be up early today as I had to catch a bus at 7am for a day trip that lasts 11 hours!
This time I managed to recrord it, though the sound levels was too low to post on FB, sorry anyone who wanted to hear - I'll try and find a better version, as I went to the office of the campsite and asked the guy there at 8am, and discovered it is most likely the Tui bird.
Having gotten up in plenty of time, I did some reoganisation inside my tent, as I'll need to strike camp by 7am tomorrow so that I am able to get the bus to Auckland.
After having done all this and eaten breakfast, I made my way to the pick up point for the day tour. As 7.23am went by, I saw the tour bus going by across the field, but it didn't come around the corner, and I wondered if my pickup hadn't actually been requested. At that moment, 3 Germans from near Hamburg (Sebastian, Felix and Teresa) turned up at the pickup point too, so that reassured me that all was well.
Felix commented on Nessie who was attached to my camera bag, asking rhetorically "Where are you from?". Nessie has been an inspired choice of mini gift so far, I'm very grateful :-)
The tour operator gave lots of information about the areas we were driving through, advising that the north Island has a population of about 60,000 people, and that the town we were going past, Kerikeri, was the most northern town, with a population of 6000. That's not to say that there are not villages and such further north, just that Kerikeri is the last "town". Paihia/Waitangi, where I am staying just now, has a population of around 2,500.
We then passed Whangaroa, a wahling town which is now a wildlife reserve, popular with divers due to the diversity of fish there
The next spot was Mangonui harbour, another whaling harbour, that also served as a timber port for the Kauri timber trade.
At this stage of the journey, the focus was on 90 mile beach, which is a long stretch of beach which is part of the national highway network. Due to the timing, we were going to be travelling north up the highway, while the tide was coming is, so the information about the surrounding scenery was intterspersed with emergency protocol, such as how to climb out of the ceiling in the event that the bus sinks, all ncouraging topics like that
Of note during the scenery points, was Doubtless Bay, where Kupe, the Maori discoverer of New Zealand, made landfall, at Taipa.
We stopped at Taipa for morning teas, and I took the opportunity to try out my selfy stick, and found that with the timer option on the phone, it was quite handy way to take photos of me at places, so I'm glad I thought to take it with me!
Moving on, the bus passed by the 'Ancient Kauri Kingdom' showroom, which we were scheduled to visit on the way back from Cape Reingi, and shortly afterwards we made it to 90 Mile Beach, on the west side.
The sea on this side was a very different affair from the one at Taipa, as Taipa was on the lee side and 90 mile beach was windward side, there there was very impressive surf - even though I haven't ever tried to surf I can feel the lure of the big tumblers!
While I was filming, I met Veronika, from Prague in the Czech Republic, who was also trying to get better shots of this part of the adventure.
The bus stopped near the exit point from the beach highway, to let us out for some photo ops, and then we went on, back to Route 1, to continue our way north.
Before reaching the most northerly poin of our trip, we got to see Parengarenga Harbour in the distance. The beaches there have brilliant white sand, due to the high silicon content, and the place was developped as a major exporter for Pilkington glass, untill Mankind started to get a clue about land/nature conservation and that was stopped.
On the last part before Cape Reingi, I became aware that there was a lot of motorbikes around, as a group overtook the bus on their way north. It was a brilliant sunny day of course, and a Saturday, and with the road being so windy, it seems only natural they would be there.
We made it to Cape Reinga at around 1120h, and were given 45 minutes to wander around. I asked Veronika if she would take a photo of me with my phone, and then I took photos of her with her camera.
From the car park it was possible to see Cape Maria van Diemen, which was the original location of the lighthouse for the headland, though now everything has moved to automatic, and so all the facilities such as post office, are no longer there, as nobody needs to be there to tend to the lights.
The next step on our journey, was to drive along the Te Paki Stream, to some giant sand dunes. There are about 60-100ft high, with steep sides - perfect for sliding down on a boogie board - which is exactly what we proceeded to do, as the bus had a load of specially designed sandboards. The technique is to lie on it rather like a luge - head first, hips on the back, legs trailing out behind - and you can use your toes as a break, by digging them in to the sand.
After a couple of goes on the shorter slope, I felt confident enough to go for the slope that gave a chance to try getting to the other side of the Te Paki stream - I almost managed the first time, but the second time I was at a slightly different angle, so didn't have as much water to skim over. All in all it was great fun, though I was a little bit wet, so I'm glad I had chosen to unzip the legs from my trousers first!
Sebastian was filming all the fun on a pretty fancy camera get up - he is planning on starting a business to encourage German tourists to come to New Zealand for campervanning - he gave me his business card and let me know he'd email me the footage he got of me plummeting head first down a sand dune and across a stream, on top of a small foam board
By now we were pretty hungry, so made out way to Houhora for lunch - w ate at a little cafe called 'The Hub' - out of the 33 of us on the tour, 29 opted for the Fish and Chips, myself included, and so we all enjoying fresh whiting and chips (for the benefit of my American audience, I don't mean thin cut potato slices, I mean something like a cross between potato wedges and chunky fries).
As mentioned earlier, the next stop was the 'Ancient Kauri Kingdom' showroom, which featured art and furniture based around the Kauri timber trade. The prize exhibit was the stairs in the middle of the show room, of which there are no other ones in existence - and they have jokingly put a price tag on it of $2.5 million US + sales tax.
The main purpose for this stop was so that the bus we were travelling in could be given a wash, as the last place we were heading to was Puketi Kauri forest, one of the last remaining original tropical forest patches left on the north island, so conservation is key
During the journey towards the forest, I started planning what I was going to do after being in Auckland, and so far have come up with tions to go to Waitomo to see limestone caves and glow-worms, followed by a trip to Rotorua hot springs. I still have a couple of days to decide, but that's most likely the route I'll take from Auckland at any rate.
The last stop as mentioned, was the Puketi Forest, where there are 351 accounted for plant species, and where some of the Kauri trees are known to be at least 3000 years old. The driver offered a Mauri prayer of respect to the forest and to welcome us to it, and we went round the board walk. Again this was like going through the botanical gardens, only actually in situ rather than small and inside a glass box! The ancient trees at the bottom were so big it would have probably taken 10 or so people holding hands to get round the circumference. More taking photos for each other ensued, and then we went back on the bus and back to Paihia.
When I got back, I established that I had (if I changed in to fresh clothes), which I did, enough to justify putting on a laundry. This made me aware that it's almost been a week of travels already for me. I set aide an extra full change of clothes out of my luggage, and discovered that I still had lots f t-shirts andunderwear that were not really going to be needed, assuming I do a laundry every week - which seems a sensible approach as I don't want to be carrying week old dirty laundry everywhere I go. As such I think I'm going to box up the rest of my clothes, and send them back - so if you're reading this Sara, expect a box with New Zealand post mark to be arriving in about a week.
This will have multiple benefits for me - my luggage will be that much lighter, and I'll have room for a few souvenirs or for me to get a sleeping mat, which would make sleeping in the tent more comfortable :)
I put the laundry on (25 minute cycle), and while that was going on, made up a packed lunch for tomorrow, and ate some dinner. By the time I was done with that I was able to hang everything out to dry, and then write up this entry.
My last task of the day will be to pack everything up so that I can strike camp quickly and easily tomorrow morning, before getting my bus.