We have to catch the 7am ferry from Russell Wharf. Our hosts leave our breakfast in the fridge or on the shelves in the adjacent kitchen the night before.
Up at 5! Shower, dress, breakfast - just getting light - walk to wharf. Very calm crossing and weather looking good.
Is this the only country where the World Cup rugby scores are displayed on their public transport?
Fifteen minutes later Bruce meets us at the jetty in Paihia. Pick up other tripists - seven of us in all. Then it's a twenty minute drive to airport in Keri Keri.
Here's part of our transport for the day.
That's more like it
Oh oh, here comes the real pilot for the day.
First views of the day.
This is Ninety Mile beach, but when measured accurately was found to be only 64 miles long. It has however retained it's original name. The bus tours drive along this and it is classed as a public highway! But it can't be used 2h either side of high tide.
The landing strip at Waikiki. A strip of grass on a hill top and with a bend in it!
Our guide on the driving part of the tour, Joyce, meets us here. As we drive up to Cape Reinga Joyce stops to talk to her husband, he is a shepherd and they are mustering the cattle. They use Huntaway dogs and an iDog (a kind of collie not another Apple product).
These are the Huntaway dogs. They were as soft as anything. They are bred for their bark apparently. The good ones are so smart that once they know the paddocks they can be left to fetch the cattle on their own. You just sit back on the quad bike and wait for them to finish the job.
The mustering area.
Eric joins in the mustering activities.
We arrive at Cape Reinga and walk to the lighthouse in the distance. The Cape is a sacred place to the Maori, where the spirits of the dead travel to on their journey to the afterlife.
Panorama of the scene.
Eric gazes at Cape Maria van Diemen's point, which was originally an island, but is now joined to the main island by a sand bar
it's where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, and the currents at the junction of the two are very dangerous.
Cape Reinga lighthouse.
The ubiquitous signpost one finds in these 'last' and 'first' sort of places. No sign for Wales though.
A New Zealand Pipit.
We jump back in the minibus for our next side trip to Tapotupotu Bay. This beach was used to supply farmers in this remote area. They would bring the long-horn Hereford cattle in by boat, but couldn't come in too close and so, with considerable effort and coaxing, would push them off the boat into the water hoping they would swim to shore. The name of the beach means 'push push' in Maori.
Eric looking for some cattle to muster.
We are also provided with some tea and biscuits at the beach and Joyce tells us that they have a very large and famous fishing competition here every year, for snapper. The first prize for the heaviest fish is £30,000. There are several smaller prizes too and Joyce had won one of these - an eight hundred dollar hi fi system.
We jump back in the bus for our next stop - Te Paki sand dunes.
This is the road! (looks like a river bed to me - it is a river bed!) It is three kilometres along here to Ninety Mile Beach and the 'highway' there.
The sand dunes are at the sides of the 'road'. Joyce hands out body boards for sand boarding down the dunes. It's a long way up! Those of us with bad ankles don't make the attempt. Others do.
Eric comes whizzing down.
This is our last side trip before returning to the 'airport'.
The plane looks almost human.
We are off again, flying about 1700 feet above Northland, doing 115mph, but this only felt like walking pace from up there.
Some more views.
As this was only a half day trip we were back in Pahia by about 1:30 and now needed some lunch. As we were going to visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the afternoon Bruce told us there was a cafe there and he could drop us at the gates.
"This is a new type of ginger beer"
The Treaty Grounds are very important to New Zealand as it was the first place where a treaty was signed between the British and many of the Iwi tribes, and established a joint governance of New Zealand. There are very big celebrations here every year. There is brand new museum being built on the site but it is not due to open until February 2016. There is a small interesting exhibition in the existing building, and extensive grounds overlooking the bay.
A flagpole marks the place where the Treaty was signed.
This was the house of the Govenor, Busby.
A Maori marae or meeting was built adjacent to this and next to the Treaty grounds. They have ceremonies in here every day.
A Maori war canoe.
There was also a pleasant walkway through some bush with interpretation panels along the way for the flora.
Eric tells us that this is the tree the Maori often built their war canoes from as it is very easy to work with.
We stroll the kilometre and a half back to Pahia and the ferry along the beach. The sun is quite warm now.
Eric takes prime lookout position on the ferry.
What's that? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's someone para-sailing.
It's been a long day!
