- Chapter 20

On our last leg to Cape Reinga, we made another stop at 90 Miles Beach. After crossing some smaller sand dunes, we were amazed by the endless long sandy beach. We walked around a bit, but mostly enjoyed the peace and solitude. The next beach visitors were so far away that we could hardly recognize them. However, we noticed some cars driving up and down the beach. In addition, there were also many cyclists. As it turned out later, driving along the beach is a real tourist attraction. It may sound like there was a lot of traffic, but the beach was so vast that it didn't bother us at all. Only the occasional tour buses made us feel briefly observed.

Another special feature of this sandy beach is that there are over 700 wild horses living here, as the owner of our campsite told us. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of them.

Now it was time to visit Cape Reinga. However, the weather kept getting worse on the way there. When we arrived at the visitor parking lot, we first huddled in our car. After lunch, the rain subsided a bit and we took a short walk to the lighthouse. However, we didn't notice any nice views. The fog blocked our view completely, so we drove back to our campsite a bit disappointed.

The next day, we decided spontaneously to drive a second time to the northernmost point of New Zealand. Fortunately, the weather played along this time and we were able to enjoy the view and see where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea.

We made the next stop at St. Paul's Rock. We were warned in advance that it would be a steep climb. But we didn't expect what awaited us. After several very steep stages, we reached a point on the path where we had to climb rather than hike. There was a chain for safety that we could hold on to. Once at the top, we had a panoramic view of the harbor, the sea, and the hilly landscape. Since this short hike is not very well known, we were even completely alone up there. It was only on the descent that we met a small group.

Continuing along the east coast, a visit to the Rainbow Falls was of course a must. It is astonishing how many different variations of waterfalls there are in New Zealand. In this case, the water flowed over a rock ledge into a river. This cave-like ledge made the beautiful sight even more magical.
For those who wish, swimming is even possible in the catchment basin. However, we decided to follow our route and continue our journey to the Bay of Islands.

Since no activity appealed to us here, we decided to simply drive along the coast. After taking the ferry from Opua to Okiato, we stopped at lookouts and admired the view before continuing our journey to Matapouri Beach, which is one of the most beautiful beaches in New Zealand.