It struck me quite suddenly – since arriving in New Zealand I had been diving every single day. Not such a bad thing. But, when you are in a country boasting some of the most incredible landscapes the world has to offer it would be a crime to pass through without taking time to explore some of them. My opportunity to see some of the great sights of New Zealand came during my week in Paihia.
I was in Paihia to dive the wrecks and reefs of the Bay of Islands thanks to the generosity of Craig and Lisa Johnson, who own and run Paihia Dive. I was relishing my dives on the wrecks of the Rainbow Warrior and the Canterbury as the week progressed, but with a bad weather day looming my chance to check out some land-based highlights had come.
Jo Gill, a good friend of Craig and Lisa, made plans for me to join a Fullers Great Sights day trip up to Cape Reinga. Cape Reinga is where the Tasman Sea collides with the Pacific Ocean. For an ocean geek like me I was pretty excited at the prospect of beholding such a sight.
But this day trip did not just take in Cape Reinga – it was a full-on tour of the highlights of Northland. During the course of the day I saw an ancient Kauri forest, drove down the 90-mile beach, sand-boarded down a mammoth sand dune, had my ocean geek moment at Cape Reinga and forlornly said no to some famous fish and chips. I was saving myself for the Paihia Dive barbeque – it turned out to be a good decision.
Despite hopping on the coach in Paihia at 7am, not returning until 6.15pm and covering hundreds of miles, the day had a remarkably relaxed pace to it. You are never on the bus for more than 1h30min at any one time – morning tea and afternoon tea quaintly break up the longer stretches of the drive. It was rather nice to be able to leisurely dunk my croissant into my hot chocolate during the 30minute morning tea break; it made an enjoyable change to my usual breakfast antics of shoveling down a cereal bar and shotting coffee as I run to make a morning dive.
Before morning tea the coach made its first stop at an ancient Kauri forest. As I wandered round the boardwalk in the chilly early morning air I slowly began to come-to after dozing on the coach. The cool air and light drizzle made for a refreshing start and as I craned my neck to see the top of the soaring Kauri trees. I thought how incredible it would have been to witness New Zealand when these centuries old trees covered the entire landscape. As the coach driver “Dice” explained, it was as recently as 1987 that the Kauri Tree officially became a protected species. Up until this time the now treasured native tree was an extensively exploited resource; while the timber was used for boats and buildings, the gum was used for varnishes and other resin based products.
Native Kauri furniture and arts are still being made today, but the Kauri wood now comes from trees that were buried underground thousands of years ago when a massive tsunami flattened much of Northland. As the coach drove through the flat plains where the unearthing of the Kauri takes place we were nearing the 90-mile beach. It’s not 90-miles long by the way. It’s only 60 – pretty mediocre eh.
The coach began trundling down 60-miles of what is actually of course a stunning and anything but mediocre beach. It took about an hour to drive the length of the beach and as I gazed out of the window I was surprised by how much the beach resembled the beaches of the east coast of Scotland: Grassy dunes, pine forests, grey/blue choppy water… But then I saw a palm tree.
As the coach turned off the beach and headed along a dry sandy riverbed it pulled up alongside a mountainous sand dune. Soooo, I’m sliding down that am I? Acting calm, cool and collected I scaled the ominously steep slope. I was quite frankly freaking out on the inside. I wasn’t coming this far and not doing it – I didn’t want the humiliation of trudging back down, I would take a broken bone over that any day.
Perching on my board, I looked down the gauntlet of sand and tentatively pushed off. It turned out to be pretty easygoing in the end: No tumbles, no broken bones, no humiliation. But man the sand got everywhere! I brushed myself down and jumped back on-board the coach, ready to continue my adventure through Northland at a more relaxed pace.
After stopping for lunch at a lovely little beach, the coach meandered its way toward Cape Reinga – the highlight of the trip. In contrast to the cold and drizzly morning, the afternoon weather managed to give me the lobster tinge us Scottish folk are well known for. As I wandered down toward the lighthouse I looked out to see the spectacle that is the Tasman Sea colliding with the Pacific Ocean. I am sure appears as a body of water with a few white ruffles in it to most normal people, but for me it was pretty cool. For those not so enamored by oceans colliding the Cape is very picturesque in many other ways. With its steep cliffs decorated by the flowering flax plants and the shiny white lighthouse contrasting against the blue sea there is plenty to marvel at.
After an hour of enjoying the splendor of Cape Reinga it was time to head back towards Paihia. With a stop for afternoon tea and fish and chips on the way home there was plenty of breaks during the long drive south. The whole day seemed to have sped by and when I thought about how much I had seen and done I was quite amazed. Considering I had one day out of the water to try and see as much as possible I think I did pretty well. A big thank you to everyone at Fuller’s Great Sights!
