Travel blog: New Zealand's magic northland

Anna Kainberger is taking a year-out from her career to travel in south-east Asia, Australasia and the South Pacific, as well as the USA. This month she is reporting from New Zealand. Here is her 22nd blog entry:

Magic bus offers all sort of connections to your basic ticket and one of the most interesting connections for me was the so called Total Northland add-on for NZ$170 (£68).

This would take me from Auckland up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, where I planned on staying four nights as well as taking a day trip to Cape Reinga with a stop at the giant sand dunes, a bus ride along Ninety Mile Beach and past the hole in the rock, before returning us to the Bay of Islands that very same day.

Cape Reinga is generally considered the separation marker between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east.

Quite literally the sea meets the ocean here, which is a phenomenon that is even visible - in the form of a zigzag line in front of the lighthouse, called the tidal race.

The Cape is often mistakenly thought of as being the northernmost point of the North Island, and therefore of mainland New Zealand.

However, North Cape's Surville Cliffs - 30 km east of Cape Reinga - are slightly further north, if you want to be exact.

We left the Bay of Islands at 7.15am as it was still a 200km to drive to reach Cape Reinga, with the last 19km being so called "metal road", in other words no tarmac.

According to Maori belief Cape Reinga is the point to which all souls travel before they leap off an ancient Pohutukawa tree on the cape to reach the homeland of the afterlife: Hawaiki.

No food is allowed around the lighthouse and the cape as the Maoris believe this would distract the souls from leaping off the tree.

We still saw people ignorant to these details picnicking on the benches provided along the path and had nothing more than a head shake to offer to them - it sure is hard to be a considerate tourist these days.

The souls who have led a good life, and who are not distracted by ignorant picnickers, will leap off the tree which can just be seen from the lighthouse view point.

If they have led a good life and have nothing to fear (no old unresolved business or guilt as a burden) they will sprout wings the moment they leap off and reach Hawaiki safely.

What a beautiful thought, sprouting wings to reach the afterlife.
However, if the souls are weighed down by a bad life they will plunge into the sea, where a giant sea monster in the form of a snake will be waiting for them.

Funnily enough the tidal meeting line between the sea and the ocean looks a bit like a snake - zigzagging away from the Cape.

We paid our respects to these holy Maori grounds, taking pictures of the lighthouse and the zigzag-sea-meets-ocean-line before we headed off to reach the giant sand dunes near Ninety Mile Beach.
The name "Ninety Mile Beach" is a bit misleading because it is actually 88 km (55 miles) long.
The reason for its name is unknown. Several theories have been put forward, the most common stemming from the days when missionaries travelled on horseback.
On average a horse could travel 30 miles in a day before needing to be rested. The beach took three days to travel – thus earning it the title Ninety Mile Beach.
But the missionaries did not take into account the slower pace of the horses walking in the sand, therefore thinking they had travelled 90 miles when in fact they had only travelled 60.
The giant sand dunes are a rather spectacular sight, especially since I had seen the very green and fresh South Island and travelled along lush coast lines for most of the time spent in New Zealand.

It's like something out of the Sahara - tall sand dunes that are quite steep to climb up and reached via a river bed on which our bus was not able to stop because of the quicksand. We would have got stuck if the bus stopped at any time going through the river bed.

In fact we passed a stuck car, with rather puzzled and flabbergasted passengers trying to break free - to no avail.

Our bus driver took us to the sandboarding point and then actually went back with two more drivers from competing companies to try and get the car free. And they did it without getting stuck themselves.

So remember: If you're on a driving holiday no stopping at any time on Ninety Mile Beach in your rented van or car - you will regret it and how would you explain that to your rental car company?

The Sandboarding was a lot of fun but don't underestimate the steepness of those sand dunes - it is rather scary to go down head first on your body board and it's rather easy to burn the skin on your feet when trying to break the speed down a bit.

And sand gets in everywhere - and I mean everywhere - but it sure was a lot of fun and quite a thrill.

After sandboarding and our rescue mission to the stuck car we drove along the beach for yet another one of those special New Zealand visuals that will leave you speechless.

The coastline here is entirely flat and the beach is 60km long, with a view to the famous 'hole in the rock'.

There was lots of bird life flying around here, the Oyster Catchers especially stood out with their black feathers and long, bright-orange beaks.

The land in and around Ninety Mile Beach are Maori-owned and so we respectfully took a few pictures without stomping around too much, before heading back towards Paihia - stopping at Kauri World on the way back, which offered free car washes for the buses.

The size of those Kauri stumps and relics left me in awe. I have never seen trees so giant. I have a lot of respect for flora and fauna and to see Kauri trees growing this big once again put me in my place in this world - admiring the longevity of a natural resource.

The day trip to Cape Reinga is one of my favourite memories from New Zealand - connecting the countries ancient spiritual beliefs with the ever-present and changing landscape of this beautiful country.

I stayed another two nights in Paihia before heading back towards Auckland with one last stop to see Tane Mahuta - the tallest and most famous Kauri tree still growing today.

It is believed to be between 1,250 and 2,500 years old. The tree's Maori name means "Lord of the Forest". It is a massive 51 metres (169 feet) in height, with a circumference of 13.5metres (45 feet).

Maori legend says that Tane was the child of Ranginui the sky father and Papatuanuku the earth mother.

Tane tore away from his parent's embrace and then set about clothing his mother in the forest we have today.

All living creatures of the forest are regarded as Tane's children and Tane Mahuta is a remnant of the giant rainforest that once covering New Zealand's Northland.

The tree is so big it was hard to fit it into the viewfinder of our cameras, yet alone squeezing ourselves into the pictures as well.

From Tane Mahuta it was another couple of hours to Auckand, preparing myself for the final goodbye to one of my favourite countries in the southern hemisphere - adventurous and ever-changing New Zealand.

It was a sad goodbye, with a promise to come back with more time, since the six weeks I had spent on both islands simply flew by.
I had two more days in Auckland before I once more made my way to the airport - leaving on a jet plane, this time my destination was paradise, also known as Fiji.

Anna Kainberger