And just like that, I turned around headed back towards Auckland and my starting point. But not without 1 full day, plus one more partial day spent driving in Northland.
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| Cape Reinga and the location where the Pacific meets the Tasman. |
I left my treehouse quite early and made the drive up the skinny peninsula that sticks up the northwestern top of New Zealand. I made the decision to drive all the way to the end, to Cape Reinga (Ray-ay-guh) first instead of stopping along the way. And let me tell you how glad I am that I did that. When I pulled into the parking lot at the Cape, it had maybe 10 cars in it. Perhaps about 40% full. I got of my car and headed down the trail to the lighthouse at the end. As I continued down the trail, the wind was whipping up a bit more. Then I came around a protected area and WHAM! WIND!!! The wind was so great that when I put my arm out with my phone on the end to take a picture, I had trouble steadying it without putting a second hand up (selfies are kinda awkward when you're holding your phone with two hands). And honestly, at that point it wasn't as bad as it when you stepped out from the windshadow of the lighthouse. The wind out there was one of those sorts where you have to lean into it. As Cape Reinga is almost the northernmost point of New Zealand (apparently some other place sticks out like 2km further, but is harder to access and on private land), there was one of those signposts with distances to locations on it. While I was out there, a family was taking photos holding onto the signpost pretending they were being blown away. After this visit I can say that I've been to the northernmost point of the North Island and the southernmost point of the South Island!
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| I did not get a picture of me holding onto the sign for dear life. |
Out there at Cape Reinga, it isn't just the northernmost point of the North Island, it is also where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea, and it didn't look very happy. I'm sure the wind had something to do with that. My weather app said wind was 35mph, and I'm sure gusting to like 45-55mph.
As I left the lighthouse, I there were more people coming down. I took a side journey partway down a trail to get some other views, which were quite beautiful. The sea was that pretty bright blue color, and then the cliffs were covered in green, with black lava rock underneath.
When I got back to the trailhead roughly an hour after my arrival, the parking lot was jammed full. There were cars parked in a second lot and all down the roadside for about 100 feet past the lot. Turns out it pays to get up early!
From Cape Reinga, I headed to the Giantt Sand Dunes. I honestly had no idea New Zealand had sand dunes like this until my parents visited a few years ago. The dunes are by far the largest I've ever seen, though I'm limited to sand dunes at a beach. I haven't been to the National Park in Colorado to see those ones, but maybe I'll have to now, so I can compare them. The sand dunes rise up a couple of hundred feet and all around are people riding sleds down the dunes. A lot of kids, but also some adults (they headed for the bigger dunes). Meanwhile, the sand is whipping past because it wasn't just Cape Reinga that was windy. Oh no! The Giant Sand Dunes were as well, which was pleasant. No one loves anything more than being sandblasted! The good news, I guess, was that the sand rarely ventured more than 1-2 feet from the ground, so it wasn't getting in your face. Now, my bare legs on the other hand got the full force of it. I think the sandblasting job helped make shaving a bit easier that evening since it has already trimmed the hair on the backs of my legs.
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| Giant Sand Dunes |
After wandering the sand dunes for a bit, I got back in my car and continued south down the peninsula. Up next was 90 Mile Beach. Same winds. I lasted about 5 minutes there, which was a shame. Then came the long drive to Opononi where I was staying for the night. I dealt with off and on rain (a theme here recently). As I was sitting in my room for the night, looking out the window, a rainbow appeared. And you'll never guess what! I could see the end of it! I caught the end of a rainbow for about 15 seconds before it started to fade, and within 60, the whole rainbow was gone.
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| End of the rainbow! |
Then came the last morning. The last morning I would wake up outside of Auckland. The last morning of 2025. The last morning with the car. I stopped at a overlook point just outside of Omapere. From there, looking across the inlet, you can see another giant sand dune. This one a completely different one than the ones I visited the day before.
From there I continued south into the Kauri Forests. Kauri trees are the largest trees in New Zealand, though not by height. Instead they have the greatest volume. They get very round. Their canopies can be home to hundreds of other species too, which is neat. They can be comparable in diameter to Giant Sequoias. They also grow to be thousands of years old. The oldest Kauri can grow to be 9000-10000 years old, it is believed. There are two large Kauri found in the forests of the west coast that they allow you to hike to. One is call Te Matua Ngahere and is 52 feet around. He is believed to be around 3500 years old and the 2nd largest (by volume) Kauri in New Zealand (still surviving). Just up the road is Tane Mahuta, which is the largest Kauri by volume, though only 50 feet around. This was another case of early to rise means beating the crowds. I was the only person at Te Matua. I sat there for about 10 minutes just taking in the size of him. When I got back to the parking lot, a volunteer was stationed there. He said I was lucky to get time back there alone, because the day before, by about 1pm, the parking lot was too full to move in and there were cars parked along the roadside.
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| Te Matua Ngahere |
The Kauri trees are in the fight of their life right now. There is a disease that is killing them. In just a few days it takes take a healthy tree to a dead tree. The few places they let you hike to them, there are shoe scrubbing stations because the spore is easy to carry on shoes.
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| Clean your feet! |
I continued my trip south, stopping only once more for a hike up a random tall point. From up top you could see the wide river to the west and farmland around.
I pulled into Auckland around 3:30 and dropped my bags off at my hotel. Then I took my car back to the car rental place to return it. I had that Mitsubishi Cross Eclipse for 38 days. It is not a car that I would buy. It was fine. It did it's job. But I didn't find it super comfortable and the backup camera was trash. Horrible clarity. I did put something like 7500km on it, which is around 4700 miles. So many miles! It also meant my estimation on mileage was about 1000 off! Oops! Oh well. I knew it was a rough estimate anyways.
After dropping off the car I headed to my hotel. I did a load of laundry because there is a washer/dryer in my room! This means I won't have to do more than like 2 days worth of laundry when I get home. It also means I know I have clean clothes for the airplane.
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| Last sunset of 2025! |
About 8pm I headed out to see what New Year's Eve had in store for New Zealand. I knew there would be fireworks from the Sky Tower, so I wandered the wharfs and Viaduct to find where I wanted to settle down. I found a spot to watch from and sat there for about 2 hours. I finished the audiobook I was listening to, to bring me to 56 books for the year. People trickled in and where I was at it never got crowded. However, about 50 feet to my right it looked pretty packed.
At 11:59 the Sky Tower started counting down and the crowded got louder. Then at midnight fireworks went off and boats honked their horn. In comparison to what you see at a lot of other places, it was very tame. We got 5 minutes of fireworks, but nothing like they do in many other cities. Still, it was something to say you were in the first major city to welcome 2026!
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| Happy New Year! |
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