We awoke at 06:30 again, showered and packed and were on the road by 07:30. We headed straight for Cape Reinga detouring to Ninety Mile Beach at Hukatere en route. This turned out to be a 20 kilometre gravel road through Aupouri Forest which was very pleasant to look at but it took 30 minutes from start to finish. Unfortunately the sky was overcast with grey clouds and threatened to rain, thus the view of the beach wasn't that exciting. There were beautiful heather bushes 'though which were worthy of a photograph. We continued to Cape Reinga and took in some stunning views of the surrounding area and the sand dunes on the south western side of the cape. Some small birds, with canary yellow heads, were spotted at the cape which were lovely. The weater still hadn't brightened up so we headed back towards Kaitaia with the intention to travel to Hokianga and settle at Opononi for the night.
Unfortunately we hadn't found anywhere for breakfast and by the time we got to Ahipara, beyond Kaitaia, it was gone lunchtime and still there wasn't anywhere to eat. The beach at Ahipara was fantastic 'though and I captured some lovely photographs of the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach. We carried driving down the twisty turny windy roads until we began to feel weak with hunger and eventually arrived at Kohukohu at 14:30 to find a cafe that served us a decent feast, albeit fairly expensive, some 7 hours after we set off from Kaitaia. The chef of the cafe handed us a promotional leaflet of Kohukohu Village and suggested we take a tour of the village. We did, in 10 minutes, which was pleasant. There were lots of big, wooden, old cottage style houses and a former police station which was now a private residence. It was a quaint little place.
We caught the 15 minute car ferry across to Rawene and followed the road to Opononi, having arranged our accommodation for the night from Rawene. Before checking in to the youth hostel we drove to the south head of Hakianga to take in the fabulous views of the north head sand dunes. We missed the opportunity to enjoy sandboarding down the dunes thinking that we would be able to on the south head, sadly. At South Head there were small black rabbits hopping about the bushes. We continued to drive away from Opononi to catch a glimpse of the kauri trees in the Waipoura Forest and to ascertain where we commence the forest walks tomorrow. We were specifically looking for a lookout point but when we did find the road it was closed off without explanation. We had noticed a visitors centre a few kilometres back so turned around and drove to the centre in search of an explanation. Despite the centre having been closed for half an hour the chap was particularly helpful and advised us that the road was closed due to a landslide a couple of months ago. He also explained that there was another vehicular access point to the lookout but it was a further 12 kilometres from the centre. At least we could judge how long the walks will take us and learned that we are highly to see any kiwis in the wild.
After settling in to the hostel, or seeing the room and discovering there were no locks, we went back down in to Omapere for some fish and chips by the sea watching the sunset. The sun was hiding behind clouds but we did see wonderful pink reflections on other clouds and the water.
When we returned to the hostel it was dusk and Ian took me for a stroll in to the woodland on an unmaintained gravel road. I was losing my eyesight in the dark and wasn't very comfortable. I nearly wet myself when a possum screeched and cackled in the bushes and ran across the track behind us! Neither of us managed to film it! We continued up the track with a weak torchlight then turned around in the direction of the hostel. Again I shrieked when some creature rustled in the bushes and I longed to be back inside. Fortunately we soon were. I don't like being such a woose but when I can't see the things making the noise I don't like it!
The hostel is at the top of some hills, in pretty thick woodland, up a 1.5 kilometre gravel road. There are no locks on any of the doors and it doesn't feel all that safe although it is, admittedly, in the middle of nowhere. Around the hostel are horses, goats and sheep which makes a pleasant change to dogs and pigs like in Tonga!
We covered a distance of 451 kilometres from Kaitaia to Opononi.
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.