Cape Reigna

(Just a little note:  I typed this last night as I was falling asleep.)

I just feel like the best is yet to come.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Cape Reinga

We drove to the end of the world today, where two oceans meet and mate…according to the Maori.  The Tasmin Sea and Pacific Ocean meet at Cape Reinga.  Where the tide of each sea blends, a whirl pool of swirling water, sand and surf mark the merger.  The area is stark—wind swept hills giving way to sand dunes on the west, mountains sinking to small beaches and bays to the east.  One stark tree grows just beyond the cape and is said to be a sacred tree on which the spirits of the Maori stepped out of this world and walked down into their home. 

What a day! After the stress of Monday, today was such a relaxing day.  We stopped at an Alpaca farm and viewed their crafts—knitted and felted pashminas, scarfs, hats, and skeins of yarn for sale.  My fingers itched for a crochet hook!  At times yesterday we felt like we were driving through Northern California and Oregon.  Today it looked like were driving through Montana and Wyoming.  Green hills pushing toward grey skys, patches of forest, fields of avocados trees, forest, cows and sheep.  We would turn a corner and ooh and ahh over the scenery.  From time to time we’d get a peak of the ocean at some bay or another.  The only thing that dulled the day was rain, and even that was a welcome addition to the day.

The drive on the peninsula feels long.  There are tiny towns with little schools, a gas station, and not much else.  The last ten km was breath-taking.  We stopped at a historic sight that described a Maori pa—an settlement that was usually built on a high plateau enclosed on by fences of sticks.  The location made it easy to defend. This particular pa was home to 2000 Maori at its peak as evidenced by purple sweet potato pits (gardens) that still exist today.  On the other side was the sight of a Radar Tower built in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed.  New Zealanders realized they could be next.  The radar tower was built to detect Japanese plans and ships. 

A few miles up the road we arrived at the light house. It wasn’t readily viewable from the carpark.  We walked out on a well-maintained trail and got our first look at the lighthouse.  Although I almost wanted to run down the path, we stopped frequently to take pictures of the cliffs, ocean, the lighthouse and even stopped a stranger to take our picture.  The breath caught in my chest when I saw the two oceans meet. Well-kept trails allow experienced hikers to hike down to the beach below Cape Marie vanDiemen where the original lighthouse was built in the 1800s.  The new lighthouse was erected in 1948ish.  Today it still functions but is controlled by computer in the capital of Wellington on the extreme south end of the island!  Standing on that point, watching the ocean, straining for a view of the three king islands, I was thrilled that we made the long trek to the Cape Reigna lighthouse. (Those pictures come from Jim's camera...I'll try to upload them to Fb.)

Tonight we’re parked at another Holiday park built on the side of the mountain.  We’ll get a good look at it tomorrow. 

Random thoughts:

• ·      We saw turkey! They looked like wild turkeys, just not sure if they are native.

• ·      A cup of coffee is commonly $3.

• ·  Coke is king! Coke, diet coke, sprite and mountain dew are the drinks of choice.  We thought Jim discovered gold when he found Pepsi at a petrol station.

• ·      We were told by the girl at the grocery store that domestic violence is very high in Auckland.  I asked why and she attributed it to gambling.

• ·      It feels like NZ is a young country, founded by Eurpoeans in the early 1800s.  The Maori are ancient.  We don’t’ know much about them yet. (Found out that Able Tasmin and French explorer du Seville passed the northern tip of NZ in about 1650...not as young as I thought.)

• ·      Kilometers, grams, kg, liters, degrees Celsius are confusing, I don’t care if they’re a base ten system.

• ·      No matter how many times I say it isn’t, left is wrong!

• ·      Looks like it’s a national police department instead of a locally controlled one…not sure about that.