Day 16 | 26.10.2016 Cape Reinga, Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes, Ngataki

We didn't want to miss the first ray of sunshine, so we set an alarm for 5 o'clock just in case. But since it was still pitch dark, we turned it off and got a few more hours of sleep. When I woke up, it was already light outside, so I went out and let the boys sleep a little longer. From the parking lot, it took about 5 minutes to get down to the Cape, and on the way there, you could already enjoy breathtaking views. When we arrived at the lighthouse, the first glance automatically went to the left, where the waves break in the middle of the ocean. The reason: at Cape Reinga, the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, which causes this phenomenon.

After a few minutes at the Cape, I was surprised by a thunderstorm and got soaking wet within seconds. It took me a second try to capture it in pictures, and it didn't look like the world was about to end. But it was worth the raindrops. In bright sunshine, I could finally see how beautiful this place is. A picture says more than a thousand words.

We continued to Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes, where we wanted to try sandboarding. You lie on a small surfboard and race down the dunes. We (as clever as we are) chose the highest dune. The boys went first, and I also tried my luck - which turned out to be not such a good idea. At the end of the hill, I couldn't hold onto my board anymore, which resulted in me braking with my face. A bloody nose, a bruised right arm, and quite a few scratches were the result of this supposedly harmless fun. But oh well, life goes on and after 2 minutes I felt somewhat normal again, so I slid down again, but this time on a smaller dune, which went really smoothly. Back to the car, return the boards, and slowly look for a place to sleep. This time, we let Piet decide where we would sleep tonight, and he took us to the most beautiful sleeping spot we've had so far. In front of us, a lonely, secluded beach and the endless ocean. That evening, I saw my first shooting star in New Zealand.