When two seas collide

When two seas collide

We left Ahipara fairly early, continuing north on SH1, which is now called the Far North Road.  From Kaitaia, the road went into s-bend mode, which surprised us as it looks pretty straight on the map.  Fortunately, this didn’t last for too long and the countryside opened out again, with long rolling hills.  You could often see the road in the distance, either winding up to the horizon or disappearing into troughs and appearing over summits, like some grey Loch Ness monster.

The further north we went, the less populated the land became.  We saw the odd field of sweet corn, plenty of cattle and fewer sheep.  One thing we weren’t expecting to see was turkeys, but every so often you’d see a group of them foraging at the roadside.

After about 100km the road started climbing again, and the earth on either side was a bright orange colour.  You could see the sea on both sides of the road.  Then, in the middle of nowhere, satnav told us to go straight over the next roundabout!  We’d arrived at Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of NZ.

From the car park, a track continues north before dividing; left takes you up to the top of the cliff, right takes you down to the lighthouse.  This is also the point where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet.  As they collide, they form eddies and whirlpools, but it was pretty calm when we were there.

We’d expected to get a cup of coffee here, but no food and drink are allowed as it’s a sacred place for the Maori – Cape Reinga is the place where spirits leave the land for the afterworld.

It had been a very quiet drive up – only three cars passed us – but by the time we got back to the car park it was starting to fill up.  Driving back south to Kaitaia, there was a steady flow of cars, vans and tour buses heading north.  We were glad we’d started early!

We continued south down the Twin Coasts Discovery, this time taking the scenic route after the Mangamuka Pass to Kohukohu.  From there we caught the car ferry for a 15-minute crossing to Rawene and our stop for the night, the small but perfectly formed Rawene Holiday Park.