Silja: Cape Reinga – Waipoua Forest - Auckland

Sunset behind the dunes (Cape Reinga)

We went up to the north cape of New Zealand, Cape Reinga (which is – like the Norwegian Nordkapp – just almost the northernmost point). Here the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific, which I expected to bequite a spectacle, which it was not really...

Unfortunately the weather was rather bad and the closest we could get to a weather forecast was the lady in the tourist information in Awanui saying «This does not really feel like a long-term thing». What was even more depressing than the weather were all the logging trucks passing us. There were permanent road signs warning us of them and inevitably completely deforested hills. Since we had been told to fill up with food and fuel before we go up to the cape, we expected wilderness and instead we found sheep, cattle and farmland everywhere.

It was not all dissappointment, though:

Lisa has already mentioned the giant sand dunes in her post and they really were something! It was probably a good thing, that the sun was not heating up the sand that day and we could go barefooted. We goofed around, climbing up and runnig down the steep dunes till it became rather late and the sun was setting, turning the sky into the most beautiful colours!

Resting at a stream in jungle-like forest

We then drove south again, this time keeping to the western shore of the island.

We had seen the large Kauri trees before, but in Waipoura Forest we found a whole new dimension of these giants. Here are several trees that are around 1500 years old and the largest we saw had a trunk girth of over 16 meters!

We went on a night walk, hoping to see the nocturnal Kiwi bird. We did not, but instead we came across an owel and very large insects that made humming noises. The birds held quite a concert, too.

We went back into the forest the next day and walked for hours. We still made it back to Auckland the same day, with the kids asking «Are we at Caitlin's soon?!» every five minutes. After a cheerful reunion we had a real feast together and watched the movie «BOY» afterwards. (Great film about a Maori boy in the early eighties).

Now we will check out the city center of Auckland.