Top of the North - Part 1

Justin and I visited the northernmost point in New Zealand over the 4 day Easter weekend.  We headed out Friday morning bound for the KariKari peninsula.  We didn't get out early enough and got caught in quite a bit of traffic.  It took us forever to finally arrive at our Maitai Bay campsite.  Unfortunately, it was not until we drove up to the check in kiosk that I remembered we needed $20 cash to pay for the site.  So we turned around and drove back over the 2 km un-groomed gravel road and luckily found a convenience store that allowed me to get cash out since there was not an atm anywhere nearby.  We settled into our campsite and spent the evening walking on the beach and reading once the sun went down.

Beach near Maitai Bay campsite

The next morning we rose early and I went for a scenic hike while Justin packed up (yes, I got the better end of that deal).  We headed out after breakfast hoping to get to Ahipara in time to catch some waves.  Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor and there were absolutely no waves in Ahipara which is usually a great surf spot.  So we scrapped our plans for surfing and hired a quad bike to ride along 90 mile beach.  The ride turned out to be amazing and we explored about 30 km of 90 mile beach.  90 mile beach is actually a stretch of 88 km of beach that runs from Ahipara north to near Cape Reinga. We spent a great evening watching the sun set over the beach before retiring to our nearby campsite.

There were "wild" horses everywhere up North

Cute little fantail let me photograph it on my hike

View from my hike

And another view from my hike

Posing on the quad bike

90 mile beach from Ahipara

The clouds made for some awesome sunset shots

Well, the clouds and the low, long tide

Seriously....I love this one