Cape Reinga, Gumdigger's Park and Ninety Mile Beach

We caught the Dune Rider trip to Cape Reinga and after morning tea we went to Gumdigger's Park where Kauri gum was obtained from ancient Kauri trees buried in swampland, the resin coming from a break or wound solidified and could be harvested in worthwhile quantities and used to make solvents. The term gumboots arises from the invention of Wellington boots in rubberized form being used in deep swamps for this job. After this we started the drive up to the Cape. The landscape is very impressive with quite high hills used for pasture, not the low flat area we had expected. The drive was quite exciting in the adapted Hino lorry with coach body that has excellent ground clearance and ramp angles.
Arriving at the car park we walked the half mile along a well made landscaped gravel path to the lighthouse in sunshine and mist so the views were, er, misty. We departed for the best bit of the trip so far, sand boarding at Te Paki sand dunes. We drove through grassy parkland and could see the enormous dunes in front of us so we drove down the narrow twisting tarmac road to come out at the bottom of the dunes, the vehicle following the edge of the dunes along a shallow wide fresh water stream until the sand widened out enough for us to get out and climb the dunes to sand board down. I got out but did not sand board but they are not that fast and I would have a go again. The better boarders sped down the dune and across the hard level base through the shallow water for about 20-30 yds. The distance down the stream to the 90 mile beach was 2 miles and at the sea we turned south to follow the beach out of the water for about 40 miles on hard sand simply following another similar vehicle. It was awesome and legal for buses, but not hire cars! After that we left the 90 mile beach and headed for the Kauri shop where a giant ancient tree section has been cut and formed into a solid staircase inside a shop, awesome again. The next and last item on this superb day trip was a visit to the best fish and chip shop in NZ, where we had the freshest blue nose at Mangonui before arriving back at The Anchorage just fater 6pm, a wonderful day.