Tuesday, April 2 - Cape Reinga, the top of NZ

     We only had one more part of NZ to see before heading home, Cape Reinga, which points like a finger northwest towards Queensland, Australia.  We've seen some pretty amazing places in NZ and thought the cape would be an interesting, but didn't expect too much.  Boy, were we pleasantly surprised.
     But first we had some business to do.  New Zealand requires all vehicles to go through a safety inspection every six months if more than six years old.  The Irish guy we'd bought it from had paid several hundreds of dollars in repairs each time he took it in for the inspection.  And as our WOF was running out in a couple days, we had to get it renewed.  Plus,  it would be benefit to have a fresh one for the purpose of selling the van.  But how much would the repairs be?  It has been a background item of concern which has grown as we get closer to our departure date.  So we took it into a garage in Kaitiai, the last town before hitting the cape.  They told us to leave it for an hour or so while they did the inspection.

We walked to a bank to cash a few traveler's checks, then returned to the
garage.  Boy, were we relieved when it passed with no problems!

That's one dragon off our back before we can sell the van!

North of town is the Ancient Kauri Kingdom.  45,000 years ago a forest of
Kauri trees was buried in a swamp.  Now, they are dug up, preserved in the acid
muck, and used to make furniture and craft items.  This 12 foot diameter log
now serves as a spiral staircase for the shop where many Ancient Kauri
products are sold

Next we drove out to Ninety Mile Beach, which runs in a continuous
stretch all the way to the cape.  It's actually more like 90 km long, and is open
to traffic.  We weren't about to give it a try without 4WD.

Sandscape with kelp

Nearing the cape the land becomes empty of people, although you still see
sheep, cattle, and ... turkeys!?

We've seen quite a few turkeys in NZ.  Wild birds from the US were released
here a hundred years ago.  With some interbreeding with domesticated
fowl the result are these very large, semiferal birds.  They have very little
fear of people, probably because Kiwis don't celebrate
Thanksgiving.

The beautiful road out to the cape

The northernmost tip of NZ, Cape Reinga.

The Tasman Sea, which separates New Zealand  from Australia, meets the
Pacific Ocean.  Waves and surf crash as swells from opposing directions
collide here.  Wouldn't want to kayak out there.

The coast east of the cape.  We camped at a small cove there for the night.

We took a short hike along the Coastal Track.  It's too bad we've run out
of time, because we would like to explore the area more fully.

Because the lighthouse sits on a bluff a hundred meters above the sea it
didn't have to be very tall to cast its warning light beam out over the ocean.

We cooked dinner at a pulloff near the tip of the cape.

The northern top of NZ ended up serving as an exclamation point for our
entire Trip Down Under, and we toasted the country for its charm and beauty
with some decent NZ cask wine. Cheers!