Cape Reinga, all the way up North

Had plan of being at the Northern tip before sun rise, but woke up at 8 o'clock. Ok, plan B, be there before sun set then? I don't know what to expect at the tip, so no expectation at all.
This early in the morning there are not a lot of people on the roads, and being this far up North, makes it even less. A lot of signs with "The Last..." cup of coffee, bed, food, meat or even beer... I guess the tip is approaching fast. Since there are not a lot of people driving, the Kiwis though that a one way bridge might be enough.
People are not more in a hurry than they can wait for people to cross before them? At least there are plenty of bridges that are one lane only. Then one side has a yield sign, the other not and this seems to work just fine. Again probably only because the bridges are so short and the amount of people out here is very small.
As I get close I begin to be able to see water on both sides, shifting from East to West every few kilometers. The landscape looks pretty cool, not really possible to capture with the camera. Compared to hours earlier, there are a lot of sand dunes in sight now and it is a lot windier than before. The forests seemed to have slowly disappeared, not many trees left, the jungle I drove through yesterday is also gone. Now there are mostly bushes left that grow in sandy areas. I can even smell the ocean
When I parked the car I thought this was the Northern tip and was a little disappointed that there was no easy way to get over there. Oh well, time to unpack the hiking boots and get going. Looking at the Amy's compass, that thing was to the West. Hmm, I guess I have to go look for it then.
On the East side there an equally nice coastline, I wouldn't say gentle, but still not as violent as I had figured it would be. The Western side seems to have a little more flat and with beaches and generally more sandy coast line, where as the Eastern side has with steep cliffs and is a little more dramatic.
Walking over a hilltop I finally see a light house which seems to be in the Northern direction. In the back ground the two oceans, The Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea are colliding and creating some very interesting water swells. There are still very few people, except two guys who are taking a well deserved rest - they arrived here on their bikes!
The weather is super, almost no wind, clear skies and just nice, but I am happy I am not going back the same way on a bike, haha. There was a pole with different cities and places and how far away they were. Even Los Angeles was on there and I think I passed the test, because I didn't feel homesick, not even a tiny bit, but then again, it was LA, haha
Now then, standing at the most Northern point of New Zealand, this is where I was supposed to begin the real trip, traveling down South in the most indirect line. Was thinking of hiking over to the Western tip as well, it still wasn't too hot, but I left my sunscreen and hat in the car and 3 hours in the midday sun, well, let's just say I have tried it before, not good.
I went back to the car and took off, in a Southerly direction, couldn't do anything else! 10-15 minutes later I come to the first turn off with an arrow to some bay on the Eastern coast, yep, down that road. 10 seconds later I am driving on gravel road and the dust is everywhere, mostly because it is turning left and right every 3 seconds.
I end up on this very cool beach, there is body there, so it is all mine. Time for some skinny dipping? I test the water temperature... I don't think so, holy fcuk it is cold. And I am going diving in that water in a few days, that's gonna be freezing. I don't know how cold it was, but after a few minutes a few penguins came out of the water, they were standing there shaking complaining about the water temperature too. So much for global warming I guess
A little further down the highway there I passed a sign on the way up, where it said sand boarding. Ha, maybe I could get rid of my snowboarding abstinence, if I got to do it on sand instead. Had seen a footage on youtube some years ago from Sahara I think it was. Amy guided me, of course in the wrong direction, so we had our first argument - I won, I found the power button!
The road there was also gravel and at some point there was a warning that beyond this sign, it was possible that the high tide could swipe cars away, it had happened often... Now that was interesting so I continued, haha. Where there is danger, I go.
I parked the car and went up to the van renting out boards. A little disappointed to see that the only thing they had were boogie boards, no snowboards. On top of that the boards were $15 per hours rent, a little steep I would say. I chose to climb the sand dunes without a board, just to get up there and take a look out. Damn the sand is hard to walk in, especially if the incline is 50-60 degrees. Every step is only 1/3 of a step, so it takes a long time to walk up there, with all the stupid electronics in my bag, including laptop. Well, on the top, there was not much else than sand to see, these were in fact like the name suggested, Giant Sand Dunes.
Met a guy with his son, the sun was running up and down the dunes, the dad trying to keep up with him, but soon he realized that maybe he should just take pictures and let the son do the boarding, haha

On the road again, I took yet another left turn to a bay, again gravel road all the way down twisty turns, but this time I was not the only one there, people were camping along the beach on this little hidden bay. The beach was much bigger than the opening in the cliffs to the ocean, so the water was quite calm in there. The at one side of the beach, there was a huge inner lake that was connected to the ocean at high tide, and a little secluded lake at low tide. Here kids were playing and people kayaking, pretty relaxing. But the water was pretty cold still. Brrrrr. Well it has to get warmer... Somehow?!
This is not my favorite topic, but I know that we all have to go now and then, right? What do you do when you have been in the car for way too many hours? At some point everyone has to go, even Superman.
I had seen a couple of these around New Zealand, but never had to use them yet. Public toilets along some beaches. They are actually not that bad and kind of look cute. I would say though that these places in my book are categorized as absolutely emergencies only. I would rather buy a beer somewhere and use the facilities there.