Old blog I never posted

This was a blog I had written up before all the car drama consumed us for a week. Its explains some of the pictures I had posted earlier....

Tuesday we stayed in the area and checked out a couple of close beaches. First was Matai Bay which is known for its famous 2 crescent shaped shores. It was pretty deserted (like the rest of this country) except for one pesky bee. One GIANT pesky bee. It was like a flying tarantula and it would NOT leave me alone. Sarah batted it off my shirt with her towel, and by batted I mean she slapped me across the back with it. But the bee came back for more. I tried outrunning it but that didn’t help either. Sarah stood there and laughed until she cried while I was running for dear life, with the big black dot bouncing along behind me. We concluded that it like my white shirt, so I took it off and had to bare the cold wind in just my swimsuit top. But at least the fuzzy flying bee of death wasn’t on me anymore.

The waters of Matai Bay are unreal. Identical to any picture you’d see on a postcard or brochure. They don’t need photoshop in this country to make it appealing. The water is a million shades of blue and teal and the sand looked like a rainbow of pink, orange, yellow. We stayed at Matai Bay for an hour or so, until the bee reappeared, then we drove (about 2 km – gotta get used to metric) to Karikari Bay. This beach was also deserted but it was beautiful as well. The sand was really soft and the sun decided to meet us at this beach. And there weren’t any bees. Perfection. I reapplied the SPF 55 and kept my hat and glasses on.

After we had our fill of the beach for the day we drove back to the grocery store and fish shop in Cooper’s Bay. We picked up lamb rump and more bluenose for dinner for the next 2 nights. We also got more zucchinis (or courgettes as they are called here) and mushrooms. Sarah grilled up a delicious dinner using only a small bit of oil and salt. We forgot to get lemons but the food was so good just on its own. No butter needed!

I read a bit and we got ready for bed. Then as we were falling asleep I wondered what time it was so I checked…it was 9:00. Haha! But when you are camping you pretty much go to sleep when the sun runs out. (That reminds me to put flashlight – or torch as they say here- on my shopping list).

This morning we woke up early and got on the tour bus for Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach. The tour guide was full of information on the hour’s drive up to Cape Reinga. We first stopped at an old gum forest, where “gum” was dug and turned into varnish, rosin, and if dried out – amber. We also stopped for ice cream and I had my new favorite kind – Hokey Pokey – which is vanilla ice cream with bits of honeycomb in it. So good!

Further on up the road we got stuck behind a herd of cows but it was so neat watching the 2 cattle dogs herd them. I have never seen anything like it. The dogs never got distracted, rounded up stray cattle and kept them moving, without a human in sight telling them what to do! When we reached Cape Reinga we saw the northernmost lighthouse in all of New Zealand and we saw where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean met. Very neat, very big waves, and very strong wind! Again the water is so amazingly blue and the hills are so green, I can’t get over it! Cape Reinga is known in the Maori culture as the point were deceased peoples’ spirits depart. So that was neat to see. Maori is the native tribe in New Zealand.

From there we boarded the bus again and headed to a spot to each lunch. Oh I should mention that one of the tires on the bus was not balanced so every so often we were picked up speed the entire bus would shake. Kinda scary when you are taking sharp turns on narrow roads that are flanked on one side by a cliff. I was about to take bets on when the whole wheel would fall off. Later when we were on our way home the bus driver told someone we had a “case of the wobbles”. Haha I love their sayings!

The driver took us down a river bed (with some water in it) past HUGE sand dunes to eat our lunch. We had salad sandwiches, which consist of one piece of deli meet and a salad, between two pieces of bread. Interesting but pretty good. He also served us tea (my new favorite drink, especially with brown sugar!) and “crumpets” aka cookies.

Then it was time for dune-boarding! Pretty self explanatory. You get a boogie board, hike up a huge sand dune, then ride down it on the board. Another bus driver was explaining how to do it to us and told the boy to “mind their dangly parts”. Haha, another funny saying. The dune we were about to hike up was ENORMOUS. The guide said “don’t look around, just focus on breathing, and before you know it you’ll be a third of the way there”. Thanks for the encouragement. So up we went, the strong wind wasn’t making it any easier and I was convinced if my grip on the board slipped it would fly all the way to Texas. My calves were throbbing by the time we reached the top, and some people gave up halfway and turned back. But I was bound and determine to dune-surf, even if it means I wont be walking much tomorrow. We rode the boards down and it was really fun! You go about 50-60 kph which is around 30 mph. So pretty darn fast. A nice lady on our tour took pictures of us going down. We look like specs but at least its proof we did it!

Going down a sand dune at 30 mph means sand gets impeded in your hair, clothes, ears, teeth, skin, etc and the same speed. I think it will take a few days to get all the sand off me. After dune surfing we drove around a bend in the riverbed to Ninety Mile Beach (which is only about 65 miles long). The driver started doing donuts in the sand (with the huge tour bus) and even I thought I was going to be sick and I never get car sick. Then we cruised down the beach, dodging seagulls (we only hit one…yikes!) and stopped to take pictures. The driver also pointed out a car that drove on the beach and got stuck, 50 years ago. (See picture on blog). This is not a place you want to drive anytime around high tide, or without 4 wheel drive. There are patches of real quicksand.

We headed back home, grilled the rest of our veggies and fish and have begun reading on where we want to go next! There is so much to do here, no wonder they suggest coming for 6-8 weeks!!

Hope all is well with you all!