We'd booked the Dune Rider tour from Explore. They pick you up from your motel in a coach at 7.15 am and drop you back any time between 5 and 7 pm depending on the tides, weather and traffic so its a fairly long day. Its not a cheap trip at $150 each and it is possible to drive yourself to Katikati an hour and a half away and join the trip there for a hefty discount but we decided to let someone else take the strain of driving for a while.
We were outside waiting on time, but it was gone 7.30 before the coach arrived. I was dismayed to find there were no seats left where we could sit together and immediately regretted booking the full trip. Things got worse as we started when the air conditioning on my side of the bus decided to start imitating a rain shower due to a blocked drain. The driver apologised for both the very full bus and the dripping water, explaining that we would change buses at Katikati where all the Chinese tourists would be going on their own bus and were only on this one as their transport was unavailable. The rest of us would also move buses to a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
He then gave a great commentary as we drove pointing out sites, explaining customs and historical events. It helped make the journey go quickly!
At Katikati we pulled into Kouri Unearthed, this has a cafe and a shop. Its a useful stop for tour buses. Inside the shop an enormous Kauri tree has had a staircase carved inside it and it sells souvenirs of kauri and greenstone. It used to be owned by the man who carved the staircase but it was sold and the souvenirs are now very ordinary. There were 3 beautiful kauri tables in a corner at the back but nothing else carved with any skill or beauty.
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| staircase carved from a single tree trunk |
We swapped buses, Jono and I got seats together at last and headed up to the very north of North Island, Cape Reianga. Again as we went there was a commentary about battles fought, Maori spirituality and the places we went through. At the cape we stopped and walked down to the lighthouse where we could see the tree the Maori people believe their spirits arrive at before heading to their ancestral lands.
We could see the two oceans meet in a swirl of froth and there were stunning views all around. We had an hour to explore the area, climb the hill behind the lighthouse and read all the informative plaques helpfully placed around .
Next stop was only 10 minutes away, an isolated beach at Tapotupotu where a bbq lunch with salads had been set up. We sat on picnic blankets in the shade of the trees to eat and there was time to wander along the beach if people wanted.
The road to and from the beach was a gravel one, the 4 wheel drive coach making short work in places we knew our hire car would have had to be very careful. Our next stop went to the giant sand dunes that border 90 mile beach. Here you can hire body boards to go surfing down the dunes.
Non 4 wheel drives aren't allowed past this point and there are lots of warning notices up. Our coach just entered the stream and kept on going stopping further down right in the middle of it. The coach had boards for anyone who wanted to have a go dune surfing and pretty much everyone did. It was a hard slog to the top of the dunes and it looked a lot steeper looking down at the bottom than it did looking up at the top! Three coaches had rocked up together so two drivers went to the top to help everyone and one stayed at the bottom. We started with the 'dry' run. One at a time we were told to lie down, put our elbows on the board while clutching at the front end and just push off. No brakes, we just had to dig our feet into the sand to slow down and lift them up to go faster . It was nervewracking to actually push off but so much fun to fly down the dune. This run ended just before the stream started so we could stay dry.
Jono and I both did this ( I went twice) before moving across to another slightly taller and steeper run where at the bottom the boards went skimming across the water too. Jono managed to squeeze in two goes on this one before we were called back to our bus. We were both a bit wet at this point!
The bus continued to drive down the middle of the stream until we came out near the northern end of 90mile beach. We stopped for a chance to take some snaps and to paddle. The driver showed us that there were hundreds of shells hiding just under the surface of the sand, just walking in the shallow water was often enough to uncover them. He proceeded to break the shells open and eat them. People were allowed to take 50 of them each per day. I don't think anyone else tried them raw like he was eating them!
The coach travelled right down 90 mile beach to the end departure point, we passed some cars on the beach but were glad we hadn't tried with ours. It invalidates the insurance and is strictly forbidden by all rental companies as cars become stuck and then overtaken by the tide too often. We were told that the bus drivers take photos of any rental cars they see on the beach, especially if they are being silly or are stuck and get paid for each one at $250 each, quite an incentive for them. We were even more thankful we hadn't driven on the beach after hearing that.
We arrived back at Kauri Unearthed, changed buses to a normal 2 wheel drive vehicle and set off back to Paihia.
The driver offered an optional stop at Manganui a fishing village where we could have fish and chips. He took orders and phoned them through so they would be waiting for us. Just as well, two other tour buses also stopped off at the same place about the same time.
Once we'd had our fish and chips we had a wander through the village by the edge of the harbour and picked up an icecream. We had a chat with one of the other bus drivers who told us about two brand new bmw rental cars he had seen stuck on the beach after the idiots driving them had been doing hand brake turns. He said the guys had even posed beside their cars for him to take the photo that he then turned in for his reward money.
It was a short hop back to Paihia after that where we were dropped off back outside our motel.
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