six months west: the far north

it fell way down on the priority list of places to see and things to do and i regret that now, having seen it, because the Far North region of NZ is pretty awesome. what constitutes the Far North region is everything north of Auckland.

from my guide book and talking to people, both local and visiting, it didn't get a whole lot of hoopla but i guess that's why it surprised me with how nice it was, low expectations. it was like going to a concert where you don't know or care who the opening band is but you're really excited about the main performance only you end up walking away being really excited about the opening band and a little disappointed with the main act. it's all about expectations.

anyway, i drove up the east coast to Whangarei, through the Bay of Islands, out to Cape Reinga, down 90 mile beach and back through Auckland to Raglan.

i went to check out Abbey Caves. its a series of caves with glow worms and stuff. there are a couple other places like it in NZ but most are only accessed by guiding companies. this one was open to the public. i walked out to check them out. there was nobody else out there. no signs talking about the caves. nothing but a sign pointing the general direction of the caves. i walked but to one and i couldn't do it. i couldn't go down this cave by myself with nobody else out there. small space in the dark freak me out.

Whangarei Heads. it's a nice hike up to the top. the trail leads to a little flat spot/look out between the smaller heads to left of the big guy. when i got to the look out though i saw a little path that looped around one of the heads towards the big one. i checked it out and found a decent climbing route up to the top of the big head.

view from the lookout

view from the big guy after a climb

lunch spot

a different hike than the heads but another great view from the top of St. Paul's Rock, north of Whangarei Heads.

Cape Reinga, the northern point of NZ

Los Angeles - 5703 nautical miles
Vancouver - 6059 nautical miles

in little bay off to the right (east) of the lighthouse, you could see the sea swell roll in from the east and north and make these big combo waves, some huge, some practiacally 90 degree angles. i wonder what it'd be like to surf a on a wave with a 90 degree angle in it. i can barely surf one with no angle so i'm not going to try.

90 mile beach. they're pretty literal with the name i think. you can drive on it. they've even got speed limit signs (100km/hr) and cops sometimes. it a huge exposed beach on the west of the northern spit of the Far North region.

sunrise at 90 mile beach

a couple notes/stories

pictures i wished i would have stopped to get:

somebody's mailbox that was a microwave. it was a nice microwave too.
a huge, mangy, intense looking motorhome with the word "DIVORCT" spray painted across the back, about 6 ft high.
a sign for Pullman Rd. (Pullman is the town I went to college in). i could practically taste the busche light when i saw the sign.

i wished i would have planned the Far North a bit better so i could go out for a night on "The Rock" in the Bay of Islands. it's like a floating hostel with a bar and tons of activities. there's bar stuff like a pool table and they let you go kayaking, you fish for your dinner and a bunch of other fun stuff. a couple of friends back home have done it. it's in the shoulder/off-season now though so the next cruise wasn't for another week+. next time.
90 Mile Beach

it's completely deserted, except for the cars driving by.
i stayed a night out there because the weather was good and the surf looked really good. i have a couple rules on surfing though:

no surfing during feeding time (i.e. dawn and dusk)
no surfing where you haven't been before and there aren't any people out. there's probably a reason nobody is out there and you haven't heard of it.

i talked to some locals fishing to see if there were rip-currents or anything and they said, as far as they knew, it was good and the sharks that were out there were only 3-4 ft (they caught them sometimes). so i broke a surfing rule. i surfed an unknown beach without anybody else out there. i have this surfing guide book that lists all the places in NZ and it wasn't listed in there either. does that mean i discovered this spot? that means i get to name it right? i'm taking suggestions.

after walking out to Cape Reinga and the lighthouse, i started driving back, wasn't more than 1/2 mile from the parking lot and passed a big road construction site. i had passed it on the way out. it was about a mile long with all sorts of machinery and guys working. well, when i drove back through, all the guys were huddled around a truck off to the side of the road, talking about some plans it looked like. there were no other cars around. i noticed one of the guys look at me, look at the road a bit and then say something to the group. then all the guys turned around, checked out the road too and stared at me some more as i cruised past. i checked my speed, everything looked good. i got a mile past the construction site, trying to figure out what happened back there and realized i was driving on the wrong side of the road. that's the first time it's happened since i've been here. i was even watching a movie a couple days ago and it showed a car driving down the right hand side of the road and my first reaction was, "that looks weird". then i said, "oh god, i'm going to have to fix that when i get home." i think being out at the lighthouse, seeing all those signs pointing to places so much closer to home, thinking about the trip and all, i think my mind was still at home when i drove away.

i'm in Raglan again now. i'm planning to stay here, surf, relax, think/recap and get ready to for Singapore and Nepal.

i mentioned i got a hair cut a little while ago. partly because it was getting really annoying and partly because the picture of me with the seal pups generated a couple good comments on facebook. i've mentioned how ridiculous i look. i've fielded many requests to for a picture too. before i post it, let me say, i've noticed people are more friendly and less inclined to ask where i'm from since i've gotten the haircut. maybe that means i look like a local. maybe that means i just don't look like a smelly-hippy-global-traveler so much anymore (apologies if you are a hippy-global-traveller but not smelly). maybe they're just sympathetic that i look so stupid.

without further adieu...