Selling our van

While traveling up north we listed our van on a website.  With a little over a week until our departure, we decided it was time. A few days later we got a message from a prospective buyer, so we drove to Auckland to show it.  The sale was super easy - we showed it to one couple in the morning, they took it for a test drive, loved it, offered us the price we were hoping for, and later that afternoon we had moved out of the van and into a private room in a hostel in downtown Auckland.  Couldn't imagine it going any easier - and Sam and Sara seemed very sweet!  I hope they have as much fun with it as we did.

Tuatua dinner

While spending the night at a campsite just off of 90 mile beach, we met a fun-living, rowdy group of young Mauri guys.  We had a few beers, laughed, and asked questions.  Caryl asked about the clams we had seen on the beach - there are countless thousands just at the shore line.  They told us the clams are called Tuatua and are a staple in Mauri cooking.  Caryl got excited about gathering his own dinner - I reminded him that we don't like shellfish.  But his resolve was hard to shake.  Finally I mentioned the only way I like bivalves is in clam chowder; never for a second thinking he would agree to cook it (remember, we're living in a van and staying at campsites).  I underestimated him - that night he made a delicious clam chowder!  

Kauri Trees

From Wikipedia: "It is the largest (by volume) but not the tallest species of tree in New Zealand, standing up to 50m tall.  Kauri forests are among the most ancient in the world. The antecedents of the kauri appeared during the Jurassic period (between 190 and 135 million years ago).  Although the kauri is among the most ancient trees in the world, it has developed a unique niche in the forest. With its novel soil interaction and regeneration pattern it can compete with the more recently evolved and faster growing angiosperms."  So, it's a really cool, really old tree.

Tane Mahuta, the oldest Kauri.

Four Sisters - four Kauri close together.

Te Matua, 30 meters tall, 16.5 meters in girth, the fattest Kauri.

Koutu Boulders

While the south island is known for it's massive round boulders, the north island has a few of its own.

Unfortunately, they're on a beach that gets flooded in high tide, and we were almost too late - there were a few big ones we missed.

We loved this one!

A tree collapsed, but had enough roots still in the ground to live long enough to produce a solitary flower.

Te Wakatehaua Island

Further south, we used a private road ($1 payment required) to drive west to 90 mile beach.

It was a great, completely deserted spot!

We chose it because it provided access to Te Wakatehaua Island, an island that you can walk to at low tide.  It will, at some point in the future, become part of the beach, the water separating it is so shallow.

On the island, you can see where the water divides the island from the land.

Huge waves crash along the shore.

Te Paki Sand Dunes

Working our way back south - just a few miles from the northernmost tip lie the Te Paki Sand Dunes.  One can rent a boogie board and "surf" down (though we decided to walk instead).

Te Paki stream.

Giant mound.

View of the ocean from the top. 

Cape Reinga

We finally made it to the northernmost tip!  

We stayed a few nights at the Tapotupotu campground.  Sometimes it rained...

But mostly it was nice.

Northernmost point!

Cape Reinga lighthouse.

The point where Mauri souls are believed to leave the land of the living and go to the underworld.  There's an ancient tree here, Te Archa, whose roots provide steps for the departing souls.

Here the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific.