Another 6.30 start. I'm not sure why as we didn't have to accomodate breakfast but we did it anyway. On the road at 7.37.
The west coast of Far North Northland is coated by 90 Mile Beach (a slight misnomer as everyone notes -- it's a little over 90km). We diverted off our first target, Cape Reinga at the top, to try to photograph the beach from somewhere in the midlle-ish. Sadly the overbearing weather and high tide meant that we saw about 100 yards in either direction. Not quite worth the fifteen minutes over gravel roads each way detour.
We chugged up the road in search of a cafe for breakie. We pulled up in a greasy spoon that, from the map, should have been some tearooms, so we moved on. Almost immediately the road turned to gravel for the remaining 21km. A few stops for panoramic vistas and we arrived at Cape Reinga two and a half hours after setting out. My estimate had been [for] an hour or so.
A bold marker on the map, as for a small town, making us think of a nice hot breakfast. Cape Reinga has a car park, a toilet block, a lighthouse and a sacred mountain. It did have a Northern Ambassador too (New Zealand pays for Ambassadors to wander around being helpful and informative) but she declined to leave her car. The sacred mountain looked like a good vantage spot but you're not allowed to climb it. The lighthouse has a Land's End style distance post to eight or so places (we're due to go to six of them). Offshore there is a small (a few hundred metres long by half as much wide) area called Columbia Bank where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean in a bit of a head to head. In practice it's just a funny bit of water (c.f. the tide flowing into a river) but it sounds as though it should be more significant.
We set off back down the peninsula with the express intention of getting breakfast and/or lunch at Ahipara, the bottom end of the 90 Mile Beach. Good progress was to get there two hours later (at 1pm) where sadly life revolves around the superette [mini market], liquor store and laundramat. Someone must sell us some hot food, surely?
The vague plan was to head for Opononi and the Waipoua Forest, home to some giant Kauri trees, something [the kauri] the Kiwis are quite keen on/proud of. The road would up and down and left and right through some very pleasant parts of New Zealand but not ones you should go to if you're hungry.
Eventually, signs for the Waterline Cafe in Kohukohu appeared, it was getting on for 3pm. A nice lunch (quickly scoffed) and the man shoved a "guide to Kohukohu" into my hands. You've got time before the ferry for a quick run round. We're as old as Russell, though we think we're older.
Thanks! I guess he means Russell, over the water from Paihia, but we don't know anything about it [Russell, so it was a pointless comparison]. We did a quick spin and sure enough they have a pretty, wooden town. The town story sugegsts that every generation about 20% of it gets burnt down but what the heck.
The ferry trip was plain sailing though I spent most of it trying to clean a speck of dust from my camcorder viewfinder before deciding that a pixel on the LCD had blown. We booked a room for the night and rushed down, via Opononi and the big sand dunes on the North Head of Hakianga Harbour, to Waipoua Forest. Our target location was closed but a helpful off-duty man at Forest HQ said that that was because the road had been washed out -- rather a common occurence round here even with metalled roads.
Back to Opopako Lodge to check in. Getting there is quite fun as they're at the end of a single track gravel road up a mountain (Mountain Road, in fact). Both sides of the road manage to have steep drops as the mountain side of the road has developed a deep [two foot] gulley drain. Back into town, tempted by fish and chips and only just made it -- closed at 8pm! The sunset was lost behind a large black cloud so we headed back to the lodge.
This time I read the sign just beyond the gate which said there were Kiwi birds and Koalas in these 'ere hills. You can't not try it, so armed with all my electronics we headed up the track into the dusk. It goes without saying that we didn't see any kiwis or koalas but a black tailed possum (or something) jumped out of a bush, squawked at us and ran off. That and a few other noises in the bush spooked Helen. Which spooked me so we made our way back at a good pace.
The lodge is ostensibly very nice, big airy clean rooms in a newly built building. A large kitchen and eating/lounge area for the four rooms (ours has five beds, btw). However, on enquiring as to a key for when we got back we were told there were no keys. And there aren't. No way to lock doors, windows anything. Heaven knows what the insurance company says. Though they [the hostel] could argue that they're at the top of a goat track so the average outside thief would be deterred. The other guests, however, get free reign.
Then there's the green and clean ethic. As you go to chuck you're rubbish in the bin you're directed to the recycling bins outside. On the way to those you read that you should have taken your shoes off on the way in. Oh yes, the sinks are only 6 inches deep from the wall. That's just stupid.
Opopako Lodge, Opononi S35.48870
E173.45319 Elev. 183m. 
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.