Northland

Our first destination with the motorhome was the province of Northland. We visited 2000 year old Kauri trees, went to the lighthouse at cape Reinga and walked bare foot over huge sand dunes next to ninety mile beach.

The Kauri trees are huge native New Zealand trees. A large part of the Kauri forest was cut down by the early European settlers the the oldest (and biggest) trees are still standing.

Cape Reinga is the point in northern New Zealand where the water from the Tasman sea clashes with the water from the Pacific ocean. The meeting of the oceans is very visible due to the white water created by the strong ocean currents.

At Cape Reinga the rain was still pouring down but during the 15 minute drive over to the sand dunes the rain finally stopped. We had not rented any boards to go sand boarding. Instead we went walking, running and jumping around in the sand.

Heading south again we stopped the Waitangi museum to learn a bit about the history of New Zealand. Unfortunately the museum was a disappointment so we continued our journey towards Auckland again.

Our Northland journey was a good start to our New Zealand trip. We enjoyed some fantastic scenery with the highlight being the sand dunes at Cape Reinga.