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Travelogue New Zealand

Oct 22
Sun

A burst tyre on the way into the desert and not quite 90 Miles Beach

Today we have to get up early and pack our things out of the old car and into the new one while it's raining. The “new and better” vehicle is quite obviously the same campervan we want to get rid of, just that it is not from Britz but from Maui. It is not even better equipped than the old one and we feel sort of punked. Eddie who brought the new vehicle isn't responsible and tells us it was a newer model although you don't see it. We keep countenance, we can't alter the fact anyway and don't like to struggle – after all it's our holidays.

Pete comes over to say good bye and offers another fish to us, today it is a trevally and I tell Pete that whereever we'll eat the fish in the evening, we will think of him. He gives his Auckland address to me. Then he hugs me and says whenever we come back to New Zealand we have friends here.

Northland – Houhora Heads So Long, and thanks for all the fish! · more Northland pictures

We move on to the far North, heading for the Giant Sand Dunes in Te Paki and following SH1 again. At least the vehicle drives more smoothly than the other one, we state right before a back tyre bursts. This happens after we've been driving 50 kms on a sealed highway. There's been nothing lying on the road. Time has come to fly into a rage about this Britz & Maui club. We're just able to roll to the side of the road and break down just behind a curve – and get no cell reception. I walk up the hill but still nothing. I start waving when I see a jeep coming closer who stops immediately. No, here's no cell reception at all, we should ask someone who drives southwards to make a call for us. When the driver sees that our tyre is burst he rolls up his sleeves and lies down under the vehicle. He's helping us to fix the new tyre until we know how to do the rest on our own, then he's off again. He either wants no bottle of wine or beer, even saying thank you seems to be to much to him. There are still true heroes in New Zealand! Unfortunately we have to leave the tyre there because it is that burst we don't get it fixed under the vehicle again. We don't want to put it inside the campervan because it smells of burned rubber and we don't know how long we'll be on the move until we get rid of it. We decide to ignore the car problems for now, enjoy our holiday and give Maui a ring later on.

Changing the tyre · more Northland pictures

We want to see the dunes now. At first the highway turns into a gravel road and we hope that the remaining tyres are in a good condition because we have no spare tyre left. At Te Paki we follow Te Paki Stream Rd, the Giant Sand Dunes are well signposted. The carpark is right at the Te Paki Stream and they hire sandboards there. The extent of the dunes is indescribable ... we climb up the first one which is quite steep. People are walking up in a line, they look like ants. In another line, some come rushing down on sandboards. When we arrive on the top we're astonished about the vastness. Sand and drifting sand everywhere, dunes and dunes. There's hurly-burly at the hillside of the first dune (it's weekend) but on the top we are alone. The sun gives it's best, desert feeling ist perfect. Hilariously we run and jump across the sand. At last we run down the mighty dune. That's pure fun! We decide not to visit Cape Reinga and drive back.

Northland – Te Paki Te Paki, Giant Sand Dunes · more Northland pictures

At Houhora Heads we turn right to Hukatere and drive on a gravel road through the forest to Ninety Mile Beach which expands from Kaitaia to Cape Reinga and isn't actually 90 but 63 miles long (what is equivalent to 90 kms). 90 Mile Beach is part of the highway network, so cars and even sightseeing buses drive on the beach. Sometimes vehicles stuck here because of the interaction of sand and water. In 1932 the beach was used as a runway for the first Air Mail flights between Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately we aren't allowed to drive on the beach with our campervan. Most hiring companies do not insure, so we park in front of the beach. It's our first time being at the rough Tasman Sea and the West Coast: it's pure light and vastness, the air is filled with foam and spume. The sea is wild, a grey rebelling stripe far away at the horizon. We're just standing there. Some jeeps pass by, someone's waving at us. Another new world.

Northland – Ninety Mile Beach Am 90 Mile Beach · more Northland pictures

Back in the car we realize there's cell reception again and I get Eddie on the phone. I tell him about the burst tyre and that we are pretty upset. He promises to inform someone responsible at Maui in Auckland and tells me to make a call there tomorrow morning. When we planned our holidays we didn't think of fixing appointments early in the mornings, though.

We are drawn back to beautiful Coopers Beach to stay there overnight. For dinner we fry the fish we got from Pete and think of him.

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A burst tyre on the way into the desert and not quite 90 Miles Beach