Walking along the beach to Paihia there's a good view of the Bay
of Islands, looking towards Opua.
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The gang's gathered on the northerliest point of NZ's North Island.
Cape Reinga lighthouse is in the background, and a sign to Vancouver (11
434 km) points to where we came from.
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BJ's scrumming with one of the local rugby players. He's somewhat
of a brute, but luckily isn't very fleet of foot.
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This far south in the southern hemisphere the force of gravity
is no longer perpendicular to the land.
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Cape Reinga has great sand dunes, perfect for sliding down. Also
a wicked aerobic workout to get to the top.
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Wearing shorts & t-shirt is fine, but sand doesn't melt out
of one's knickers.
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Here's the northern start of 90-Mile Beach, which is actually closer
to 90 km long. Vehicles drive on it and the speed limit is posted as 100
km/h. If you slow down you can sink into the sand.
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Kai, Robin, & Cheryl take a break on a 40 000 year-old piece
of Kauri wood. Many well-preserved old logs have been recovered from swampy
farm lands.
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Santos kindly showed me some beautiful rolling green hills, cool
streams, and low-hanging tree branches.
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Near Kerikeri we tramped out to this scenic waterfall.
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All is not touristy. Here Barb enjoys resealing one of our last
two leaky windows.
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We see here a recreation of a Gumdigger's hut. Kauri gum (similar
to amber) was extensively dug until ~1930s. Note the gumboots on the left;
gumfields were often very swampy.
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