Day 115 - All The Way To The Top!

Staggie's alarm went off this morning at 06:30, didn't really mind us that it was so early, was a crappy sleep anyway! We got up, brushed our teeth and had a quick wash before leaving Mitai Bay to Kaitaia. The sunrise was caught on our trip, was a pretty nice sight, one we haven't seen that much due to never waking up so early.

Kauri Staircase

At 09:00 we had a tour booked for the 3 of us with 'Harrison's Cape Runner's'. We parked at the depot and jumped on the bus. It was a full day tour, after picking up all the passengers we got going up North making certain stops on the way including 'Kauri Kingdom' where the famous staircase is shown made out of Kauri Tree. We then made a stop at Houhora Heads which was a scenic stop before moving on to Tapotupoto Bay for lunch. The guide was informative and cheerful, knew his stuff and took us all the way up to Cape Reinga, the very top of New Zealand (although its not the most Northern point which is what most people believe but the second most Northerly after Surville Cliffs).

To be at Cape Reinga was pretty weird, knowing we were right at the top of the country we have seen so much of over the last few months. We were lucky to get a few good pictures of it, right next to the point in which the Abel Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, now thats a pretty cool sight also watching them as they collide and noticing the color difference. We were lucky though as shortly after we had got there, mist from low cloud completely covered the light house which is such an icon to this part of the country.

On the way back to Kaitaia we stopped off at the huge Sand Dunes on the West Coast, we stopped off just before getting onto the 90 Mile Beach and received a toboggan! We did indeed go Sand Tobogganing down the dunes a few times.


The bus then travelled down the 90 Mile Beach until we got to Kaitaia.


This evening we had dinner at a park in Awanui, we had already checked out some camping grounds and couldn't find any decent spots to stay the night for free that is. We were going to stay at the park close to the main road, in the end we paid for a spot by a Motel where we knew a couple from England were staying who we had met on the trip. They were from Bristol University and were a good laugh, we parked up next to their campervan and seeing as we had paid, had full use to the facilities which was good, all private too which meant safe for Chino to sleep later also.

This evening we all had a good laugh, got a table, got out the drinks, got told to quiet down once, soon passed out on the table...well...Chino did.....this ended up with quite a lot of Mosquito bites on both his feet. Seriously...tonnes.

Chaggie x