Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach

Having only three nights in the Bay of Islands we took in an organised day trip to the very top of the country and returned via Ninety Mile Beach. This is another trip that should be on one's bucket list too.

On the way to Cape Reinga we detoured to the site of an ancient kauri forest.

The notice below gives agood account of this ancient log.

ANCIENT BURIED KAURI FOREST

The solid mass of timber in this hole is a large Kauri tree stump and has a girth of approximately 14 metres, about the same size as Tane Mahuta, New Zealand’s largest living Kauri. The largest Kauri every recorded had a girth of 32 metres. Marine oxygen isotope testing suggests that the age of this tree is between 100,000 and 150,000 years old. This is the oldest non-fossilised wood found on earth, to date.

The tree would have been 1500 and 2000 years old at the time of its death when it was destroyed by some unknown natural force. One theory is that oceans rose gradually with the melting of the ice caps and destroyed this forest, depositing the layers of sand on top.

Also visible around the sides of the hole and on top of the large stump are the remains of the roots from a younger forest which grew later – around 45,000 years ago. This forest was the last to grow on this site and it is thought that it may have been destroyed by a tidal wave (tsunami) that was caused by a meteorite impact in the Tasman Sea.

The height of the land at the time was about five to ten feet above current ground level and has been eroded away, exposing the timber to the elements. The timber would have deteriorated quite quickly and been blown away by the winds which reshaped the land.

The branch of a large kauri tree can be seen protruding through the mass of timber on the far side of this hole and has been radio-carbon dated at around 45,000 years of age. It has been speared down into timber from the lower forest. This has added some weight to the tidal wave theory as it would have taken a huge force to pierce this solid timber.

 

This huge circular hole was where there was once a giant kauri stump which has rotted away (around 45,000 years old).
This is at least 10 metres in diameter!





Cape Reinga

At the very top of New Zealand is a magnificent site of where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, creating a very turbulent set of currents.

One  of the first views of the lighthouse at Cape Reinga

Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) marks the separation of the Tasman (to the west) from the Pacific Ocean. For Māori, the turbulent waters are where the male Te Moana Tapokopoko a Tāwhaki meets the female sea Te Tai o Whitireia.

The whirlpools where the currents clash are like those that dance in the wake of a waka (canoe). They represent the coming together of male and female – creation of life.

Photo opportunity. That's me in the red jacket.

Lighthouse info.

The headland at Cape Reinga.

What’s in a  name?

Te Rerenga Wairua translates to the leaping-off place of the spirits and Reinga means the underworld.

According to Maori mythology, the spirits of the dead travel to Cape Reinga and leap of the headland, above, and climb the roots of an 800 year old kahika and descend to the underworld back to their ancestral home of Hawaiki.



Looking west from Cape Reinga.

There are numerous well marked walking tracks around here. One would need an early start to explore all there is here in one day. It is around 1.5 hours back to the nearest substantial town of Kaitaia.

The significance of the sand dunes is that these are the start the Ninety Mile Desert Beach as named by Captain Cook. His charting of the coast was remarkably accurate in that to him, from the sea, the dunes looked like a desert stretching around the corner and to the south for ninety miles. More about this when we get to Ninety Mile Beach which was on the way back to Waitangi.

Ninety Mile Beach

Depending on the tides, one does the beach before the cape or the other way around. This day we came down the beach after visiting the cape.

Te Paki Stream provides access to Ninety Mile Beach from the north.

Because of access is down a stream bed and the beach could have soft patches, only 4 WD vehicles are able to travel on it. It is best to go on an organised tour in specially designed vehicles.

Stop for some dune surfing.

Our purpose built bus on a 4WD truck chassis.

Scott Point

Access to Ninety Mile Beach is via the Te Paki Stream. Scott Point here, marks the northern end of Ninety Mile Beach. Once on the beach it is generally hard sand fro the next 64 miles to the southern end of the beach at Ahipara. (See above for how this part of the coast got its name.)

Small islet (Te Wakatehaua Island), Ninety Mile Beach.

After a fast run down the beach at around 70 km/hr we left at Waipapakauri Beach. A compulsory stop at  Waiapapkauri town allowed time for thje bus to be throughly washed to remove sand and salt from it. Do have a look at the staircase carved inside a single kauri trunk in the cafe whilst your bus is washed down.

A fish and chip stop at Mangonui round off a marvellous day on the way back to Waitangi.

Next stop was Kerikeri.