Cape Reinga

On 31 October, Luke, Ellis, Vanessa, Ella and Wouter embarked on their journey to Cape Reinga in a car packed with two bicycles, two buggies and all of the equipment we were going to need to cycle from Cape Reinga to Bluff. We made a stopover in Paihia where we stayed for the night before leaving the next morning at 10.00 for the northern most point of Aotearoa. It took as a lot longer than we thought to get to the Cape and we didn´t get there until 13.00.

To get to these sacred Maori grounds, the bewildered tourist needs to cover the last 22 km on challenging roads in sometimes very poor conditions. For about 10 km, the road is not sealed and going at 30 km/h proves to be a serious test for any loose body parts of your car and yourself. But any Kiwi will tell you “it´s all good, no worries”. Do not believe them, they are lying!

Cape Reinga is a spectacular piece of raw nature that will blow you sideways; it is absolutely magnificent to see how the Tasman Sea and the Pacific clash and their green and blue colors meet at mid-sea. Take your time to absorb the magnitude of the place and marvel at the massive dunes on the West coast and the raggedy cliffs of the East coast.

Our idea was to start our cycle tour here but we had take the tough decision to go back to Waitiki as we would never had made it to a campsite on time. Our belated arrival at Cape Reinga and the 5 km of gravel road under construction would have made our first day of cycling a living hell. So we cheated, sorry everyone. We put up the tent at Waitiki Landing and prepared for our first day of cycling.
The scenery between Cape Reinga and Waitiki Landing is of amazing beauty but this is definitely no easy place to survive, which makes the people who live here all the more friendly and genuinely warm. You would not want to miss it for the world.