Cape Reinga & Te Paki Coastal Track

Hello friends,

I am enjoying my first days here in Sydney and I am already absolutely in love with the city. I visited 2 different markets today and my credit card was not happy about it because I bought jewelry. Soooooo much beautiful jewelry that was just too nice to leave here in Sydney.

I told you in the last post that I set off to the camping site in the evening, and it was wonderfully located directly on the beach and had a nice cold shower with the sound of the sea in the background - wonderful.

Swimming is not recommended in this bay due to the currents, so I decided to skip it. However, I must say that it was generally a bit too chilly and particularly too windy for swimming. In the evening, I went for a little walk on the beach and not only found a spot where the internet worked but also the beginning of the track that I had picked out a few days earlier.

The track looked quite okay, so after a very very slow start the next morning, I set off on the track towards Cape Reinga and the lighthouse.

The beginning of the track was relatively good in terms of conditions, but the longer I walked, the more difficult it became to avoid the bushes and follow the overgrown track. Especially annoying were a few plants that were particularly sharp and regularly scratched my legs because I didn't have a way to get past them differently. In hindsight, wearing shorts here was not the best choice, but I had never had problems with the tracks before, and since the sun was shining and it was really warm, I didn't pay much attention to it. Oh well.

The views on the hike made up for a lot because they were particularly beautiful, but I would still not recommend the track to anyone. Just before the end of the first half, another hiker came towards me and said that she had received a tip from another camper the day before to definitely wear long pants.

The signs were not in my favor that day because when I arrived at the deserted Sandy Beach, I was first attacked by an endangered bird species because I got too close to their nest. The bird parents got quite feisty and even physically attacked my hiking poles. I then slowly moved in the other direction, and the more distance I covered, the calmer Mum and Dad became. My roommate in New Zealand (Finn) has a doctorate in birds (please don't ask me for the professional term) and so I took a photo and sent it directly for identification via WhatsApp. Really handy, and since then I always send a photo whenever I see birds and Finn tries to identify the often blurry images or the birds in the photos.

At the other end of the track, it turned out that the track was closed, which explained why it was in such bad shape. Unfortunately, that was only posted on one side, and for the way back, I willfully ignored the sign because I didn't want to take a detour of more than an hour.

And then I was officially at the northernmost point of New Zealand and felt like I had seen most of this wonderful country.

And the sign pointed me in the right direction because now I am sitting in Sydney telling you about it.

The return journey was just as unenjoyable as the outward journey, and my shins really suffered that day. But that's just how it is - the pictures and views were still great.

The next day, I headed further south towards SCUBA DIVING!!!!!!

Your Britta