Cape Reinga and heading south

Yesterday I wrote a whole long blog post on the bus driving to Taupo but somehow it all got erased before I could post it.... Bummer!!
That means a more brief and more comprehensive post tonight before I fall asleep.

On my last day in Paihia, Felice and I decided to do a bus tour up to the very top of NZ, Cape Reinga. I bought a bus pass based on hours here, and I'm able to use my hours towards some of these tours, which is a great perk. The tour picked us up bright and early from the hostel and our first stop was to what is left of a big Kauri tree rainforest. There's a great boardwalk through the rainforest, and an enormous tree in the middle that you can, yes, hug :). More pictures on that later when I can get to a computer!

After the rainforest our next "stop" was Ninety Mile Beach, a registered highway on a beach that runs to the top of the country. Ironically, it's only about 60 miles long-- there's a number of theories about why the name is wrong, most likely that it was actually clocked in kilometers. Our bus drove most of the beach, which was almost completely empty given the season. It was definitely a sight to go roaring down a beach at 60mph, crossing streams that were actually pretty deep at times. When we exited the beach we came upon some sand dunes, our driver pulled our some boogie boards and we got a chance to go dune boarding! It was quite a trek to the top of the dune (climbing on sand will show you just how or of shape you are), but the ride down was totally worth it. I even got some pictures of me conquering the dune!

The next stop was Cape Reinga, the very tip of NZ. This was also cool because it is the point where the Tasman sea and the Pacific ocean meet, and you can actually see the difference in the color of the water. There was a neat lighthouse at the top, but unfortunately the weather started to turn so it wasn't as beautiful for pictures as I had hoped. Neat to see though! After the cape we began the trek down to Paihia again, but stopped for some amazing fish and chips at this really picturesque little seaside town. Fish and chips are apparently the national food down here, and these ones definitely put and British ones that I've had to shame.

Sandy and tired when we got back to the hostel, I proceeded to have my first travel snafu. We decided to do laundry that night since our clothes were sandy and dirty, and I figured I might as well put in all my clothes to have all fresh ones for the week. Everything got clean, but then we realized that the hostel dryer was broken (after spending $8 trying to get it to work....). There was also a huge rainstorm in Paihia that night, so almost none of my clothes dried overnight. That meant that I was carrying a bag of damp clothes on an 8am bus with me, and awkwardly hanging them one by one on the seat in front of me to dry for the entire 10 hour bus ride down to Taupo. Traveling is a lot of things, but classy is not one of them.

We got to Taupo last night and although it's freezing down here, it's beautiful! The hostel is really great too- if you're ever down here I highly recommend Taupo Urban Retreat. The rooms have a view of the lake, there's an hour of free internet a night (a rare commodity I've found), cheap bar, cheap dinners nightly and the whole place is really clean (also rare..). Today we were blessed with mostly sun, and we took advantage of it by hiking this trail along the Waikato river to a big waterfall. The river was broad and beautiful, with water so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom. We also ran across a hot spring river that flowed out of the ground and into the river. It's the only "free" hot spring in town, so Felice and I decided to go for a quick dip. It felt amazing, the perfect temperature, especially given that it was 8c (40 degrees) outside! Taupo is also on a huge lake (I think the biggest in the country?) That is just as gorgeous and clear. There is a pretty lake walk that I did a bit of today but hope to do more of later.

Tomorrow morning we head early to Waitomo caves, where I'm going to go blackwater rafting (going down an underground river in the dark!) In a glowworm cave. Should be quite an experience! Tomorrow night I'm also doing one night in Rotorua to see more of the hot springs and a geyser like Old Faithful that goes off at 10am every day without fail. Then it's back to Taupo for two more nights before I head down to Wellington. Pictures below!

Pictures:
1: Sunrise over the Northland
2: Me on Ninety Mile Beach
3,4: driving on the beach
5,6: Dune Boarding
7,8: Cape Reinga and the merging of seas
9: Waikoto river
10: Me in the hot spring right on the trail