Today was an interesting day on many levels.  I took a tour bus up to the most northern tip of the North Island, a place called Cape Reinga.  It was an all day trip with pick up at 7 am and return at 6 pm.  It was a fantastic trip and we saw so many beautiful things.

About an hour into the trip, we stopped for coffee and muffins at a little shop.  I found out the lids on the coffee cups here do not fit tightly and I very promptly spilled hot coffee all over my right hand.  I spent the next few hours with my hand wrapped up in ice.  Geez, it hurt but thankfully, the ice kept my hand from blistering.

The tour included driving 60 Kilometers on the beach headed to Cape Reinga.  We left the main road and headed down to the beach and got stuck.  I kid you not, sunk in the sand up to the wheel wells.  Oh what an adventure!  We all got off the bus and the driver, who is native Mori, starts digging us out of the sand.  This is not a dinky little bus, this is the full size tour bus!  A rescue vehicle shows up, hooks up a tow rope and to the cheers of bus load of tourists, he pulls us out of the sand and onto the hard packed sand.  Yippee, on the road again!

Took a walk through the Puketi Kauri Forest, a protected area for the native Kauri tree. This is a massive ramrod straight tree, thousands of years old, originally ravaged for ship masts due to their massive straight trunks. The Kauri remind me of our Redwoods.

After about an hour of beach driving, we arrive at the Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes and go sand boarding.  It's like surfing only you're on the sand instead of the water. 

The Te Paki trail goes the entire length of the North and South Island and is very similar to our Appalachian Trail.  It takes 5 months to travel the entire length of the trail. 

The water is spectacular, the shades of blue and green glisten in the morning sun.  It's beautiful.  We are running along the Tasman Sea.

Beautiful day of stunning views, local food and the good humor of our Mori guide. I'm loving the gentle souls of the New Zealanders. I haven't heard a cross word from anyone since I've been here; we Americans could learn something here.