Tasman-ia!

Happy May! I hope yours is going well so far, but I suspect it’s not going quite as well as mine. Today i did the trip up to the tippy-top of NZ, Cape Reinga, then down the 90 Mile Beach. It was really really great (I should start saying “brilliant,” “grand,” “smashing,” and all the other things the Brits & Kiwis say around here).

Got up at the crack of dawn... not a problem actually: thank you jetlag! Our tour guide’s name was Barry – a very talkative & funny guy. I sat next to Roison, a really cool girl from Ireland who’s a chef. Our first stop was to see a huge Kauri tree in the subtropical rainforest. Apparently hugging it gives you lots of good energy or something. Barry was really into languages and would teach us words and sing us songs in the Maori language. He also told us a lot about the history and the spiritual meanings of different places. We made a rest stop at a place that had a lot of cool Kauri carvings and a gecko frozen in Kauri gum (couldn’t get a picture... sorry Connor!).

Cape Reinga itself was just beautiful. It’s the spot where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean... the blue and green water blend together & the surf is crazy. The wind was so strong! Maori tradition says that Cape Reinga is an opening between our world and the spirit world, making it an ideal place to say goodbye to your loved ones.

Next we stopped for lunch at a gorgeous beach (don’t remember what it’s called). I walked around in the surf over to some cool black rocks and a spot where the river met the ocean. After that we went to some giant sand dunes for “sandboarding.” Sandboarding is apparently riding down gigantic dunes on boogie boards. I don’t know if this is an activity anywhere else, but it was flipping awesome! The hike up the dune was steep & hard going, but the way down was SOOOO fun... you go really fast! In the picture of the dune I’m posting I am actually the tiny dot in the middle of the hill on my way down.
Then the bus drove us back down the peninsula across 90 Mile Beach (which is actually 64 miles long). We stopped at one point for pictures... the water was really warm so I went for it and jumped in for a swim. So add one more body of water to the checklist: I have swum in the Tasman Sea.
On the way back down we stopped for pretty delicious fish and chips... which really made the day perfect. All in all, the best day yet!!