Michele's Travel Blog: January 6th - Tour to Cape Reinga & Te Paki Sand Dunes

What a glorious day. The sun is shining and the beach is calling me. I dawn on my running shoes and head down the beach towards the Waitangi Treaty grounds. The Treaty was signed on February 6 1840 and established a British Governor of NZ and recognized Maori ownership of their lands and other property. It is considered the founding document of NZ as a nation and is celebrated as a national holiday, Waitangi Day. If you are interested, you can google Treaty of Waitangi. NZ experiences some of the same conflicts we have in the US with displacement of Indian tribes and their respective land rights. It is an interesting read.

The afternoon will be full with a trip to Cape Reinga & Te Paki Sand Dunes. I have been to Cape Town, South Africa where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. Now it is time to go to the furthest point of North Island, Cape Reinga where the Tasman Sea merges with the Pacific Ocean.

You could opt to drive, but it is 3.5 hours one way. That makes for a very long day so I hop on a plane with 11 other passengers for the journey north. The flight is about 45 minutes. Our pilot outlines what we are viewing from the air. It is too much to convey in a blog, but hopefully I have captured images of the land and sea.

Have you ever landed in an open grassy field? I can hardly believe it. Where is the runway? OMG, we are landing on a grassy field strip in the middle of nowhere. Brace yourself. Whew a perfect landing.

We gather our belongings and continue our journey. A van waits to take us to the cape which is about an hours drive. Following is the Maori mythology pertaining to Cape Regeina. The Maori word Reinga means “Underworld”. The Maori believed that the cape is the point where the spirits of the dead enter the underworld and return to their homeland Hawaiki. Cape Reinga is tentatively on the list of UNESCO to become a World Heritage Site. Immerse yourself with more info via the Internet. How do you think I write this stuff. I can’t remember a lick of it during the tour.

The tour is capped off with a cup of tea and a visit to the sand dunes. New Zealanders love the outdoors and will attempt to try anything. So while in NZ do as they do. Grab a sled and surf down the dunes. Embrace the sand that is flying in your face and settling in between your toes. You are laughing as you navigate down and later find grits of sand in your mouth. And girls forget the hairdo, its history. I loved this and could have stayed longer. Unfortunately we are on a time table and the plane awaits. We may be adults, but we are all still kids at heart.

The day is ended at the restaurant 35 degrees (that’s the restaurants latitude for anyone interested). I meet a lovely couple that lives here and we converse about the island, politics (Obama) and the economy in both of our countries. They have had their economic woes too. Their housing prices are down and property is not moving. Sound familiar. I am bummed I didn’t take their photo. She was a gem.