Cape Reinga, such a beauty in a sunny day!

The beginning of January I had the opportunity to travel to Cape Reinga with my favourite Martinique couple. We had a bit of alternative route that took us 3 and a half hours  instead of normal 2 and a half hours, but at least we could see a bit more of the inland of Northland, up in the north side of the north island of New Zealand.

We drove through the St Hwy that goes from Kawakawa up to Kaitaia, then followed the only road to Cape Reinga that in some points allows nice views of the east and of the west coast, of the sand dunes and of the oceans.

Cape Reinga is really touristic, don't expect to arrive there and be the only one at the top of New Zealand, as you might experience in the northeast point of Australia, but still is beautiful.
We were lucky and had one of the best day I'd seen in New Zealand so far. No clouds in the sky, the bluest sky and shiniest sun ever, a bit chilly for the strong breeze there but can't complain about it at all.

Some info points tell the legend that Maori have there and explain some of the beaches, cliffs names given from the ancestors. From the lighthouse and up the hills is possible to see where the two seas meet far in the water: it looks like a small wave in the middle of the water mass but it's quite interesting to know that they are the Pacific Ocean meeting the Tasman Sea and probably the small wave is not that small if seen from closer in the water.

The water is crystal clear: sitting on top of the hills having lunch, the martiniques and I were able to spot a shark swimming close to the cliff. We couldn't identify it, but some friends said it might have been a bulk shark after they saw my photos.

After the little break at Cape Reinga we started our way back, but we did stop after 10 minutes at Tapotupotu Bay, a beautiful stop with a cheap camping ground close to the beach and not much around. I wanted to stay longer if I could have, but we had to count the time and so we drove back to Kerikeri and went then partying in Pahia to say goodbye to our little helpers family.

We missed out a boat party in Pahia and the opportunity to see the sunset around Bay of Islands, but it was quite nice to see Pahia in the night with a shining moon on the ocean.