10:46 a.m. - 2002-03-21
Northland part 1
Warning: This entry has the potential to become quite sappy.
Why? Because I have visited one of the most beautiful places on earth and it is called Cape Reinga.
I didn't get to do the lounging on a relazing beach thing as I had planned, but the Kiwi experience trip up north turned out to be absolutely great. The day I got there, I was completely hungover, as I was explaining in my last entry. I decided I wanted a nice, quiet evening in, totally anti-social. So, I had dinner by myself at this really nice pizzeria place (great pizza) and then headed back to the hostel. I sat in my room, and read my book all night. (I'm currently reading Lord of the Rings, as is everyone else here, and I've finally got through the first book. In about 3 days. I'm onto the second, but it's taking me slightly longer. I figure I'll have it done in 5). Anyhow, it was really, really good. I went to bed early, and the next morning I felt great. Which was odd, since I rarely feel great at 6:30 in the morning.
So, at 7:30 the next day, the bus took off for our day trip up to the north tip of the island. The bus ride was spent mostly reading (I find it hard to put a book down that I'm really interested in). However, I did manage to look up a few times to catch some scenery. We arrived at the cape and it was so utterly gorgeous.
Now, I was in a really good mood that day, and I was trying to figure out why. First, I think it was the fact that I'd had a peaceful, no nonsense night the evening before. The second was that I was realizing that I'm coming to the end of my trip in NZ, and I feel I should really try to appreciate everything as much as I can. In any case, the mood I was in totally set the tone for my visit to Cape Reinga, and it turned out awesome.
The cape itself is nothing more than beautiful scenery and a lighthouse. It's also the point where the Tasman sea meets the pacific ocean, and they kind of collide. It was amazing...on one side of the cape was the Tasman sea, all blue and clear and pretty, and on the other was the pacific ocean, cold and grey but still very picturesque. And in the middle, you could almost see a line where the two meet. It was incredible.
I had all these descriptions in my head while I was there of how I would describe it (hence my warning) but they all seem to have left me now. ALl I can remember was that I was dumbstruck with the beauty of the landscape and that I felt great to be there. I would totally recommend it to anyone!
We didn't stay at the cape that long, we had to take a drive along the 90 mile beach. ON our way there, we drove across a small river of quicksand. Yes, I said quicksand, though in all honesty, it wasn't that dangerous for people, just cars and buses. we stoped at one point at the sand dunes to go sand boarding. Quite exciting. It was two days ago, and I'm still finding sand in places I never expected sand to go (the most amusing place being the two pools of sand I found in my bra at the end of the day). Anyhow, that was pretty good.
The drive down the 90 mile beach was quite pretty. It's not much of a commercial beach, the current is too strong for it to be safe to swim in, and because of the tides, you can't travel along it when the tide is high.
Crap. I've got to go. I will finish later. SOrry.
