The northern bit of the north

After a delayed start due to Nic's foot and mouth infection we set off to explore Cape Reigna, borrowing Alan and Ann's car. Our first night was in a converted saw mill next to the first marine park of New Zealand. We enjoyed a visit to a boutique cinema coupled by a few drinks - amazing! We then stopped by a Kauri museum which was very interesting if not a little odd - they had a whole room dedicated to tree gum (which turned out to be excellent.....jurrassic park style) and also took a walk through what is left of the Kauri forests. These trees are bloody enormous! We visited one in particular called Father of the Forest (or in Moari Te Matua Ngahere) which had a circumference of 16.41m! Unfortunately there just aren't many Kauri trees left as the first settlers went mad and chopping them all down, which is an impressive feat in itself considering their size...

Kauri gum

Te Matua Ngahere

After all these trees we drove to Ahipara and stayed in the best hostel yet whilst travelling. The hostel was gorgeous, our room had uninterrupted views over the sea and the southern most section of 90 mile beach. We could relax and watch the sun set views from our room or stoll to the end of the garden and admire them from the beach, it was heaven! Whilst staying here we drove up to Cape Reigna for the day. The views were fantastic, we could see the Tasman and Pacific Seas meeting the whole scene was picture perfect.

Endless Summer Lodge - the best hostel ever!

The number one spot in NZ for surfing!

The sunset at Ahipara

Cape Reigna

We also tried a spot of sandboarding on the massive dunes but it was a little slow, we had taboggins which were really the safer way. We later realised why this was the best option considering the speed we saw some peope going down. We know peope who are now back home because of seriously injuring themselves from it!