By the numbers
7.88kms
11428 steps
200+ kms by bus
Total in 7 days: 49.92kms
My internet connection on my phone has been interesting as
it gives me my exact location on the map and how far I am from a certain
location I am looking at. It makes it easier to find where I am on wifi. Just
not if I am riding the bike at home. The strangest thing about the hotel is
that I should not be able to receive a signal at least 200 metres away. I don’t
think my phone is that good, but I am not complaining as it is interesting.
The sleep was not too bad and I was woken up at 3am to a
siren that went on for at least several minutes. I later found there was an
accident nearby and someone had ended up in someones front yard. The person
might not have survived according to the person I spoke to. The weather when i
woke up looked promising and I realised that my alarm had not gone off as for
some reason the dopey programmer put in the wrong day thinking it was Saturday
and not Sunday. The weather reports were conflicting by saying that it would be
wet by afternoon and I was more worried about the cold. I decided to pack a
jumper into my day bag anyway as I had my big camera along with wet gear and
water. Not long after I had gotten outside when the Dune Rider bus pulled up to
pick me up right out front of the motel. On our way we were told the businesses
in Kaitaia were farming and the timber industry along with the honey industry
and strangely Avocado where most of it goes California. We did see an apiary where the bee keepers
were all working around them and I got a pic of one looking like he is
celebrating unless he seem my camera, but I don’t think so.
We still had to pick people up as we headed towards the Ancient
Kauri Kingdom where we would head off to the trip to Cape Reinga, Ninety Mile
Beach and Gumdigger Park. The swamp Kauri takes at least 7 years to dry out or
else they would ruin the wood. The first place we stopped at was the Gum
Diggers Park. The best thing about choosing this tour was that the group knew a
bit about the local history and the Gum diggers were part of that. The driver
told us at one stage there was at least 6,000 people in the area digging from
Croatia or that area and they intermixed with the local Maori. I knew some of
this, but the prod had a bit of wire on the end to help bring up gum that had
gotten caught. We were dropped off basially at the back door where we could
follow the path. The first thing we could head to was a Kauri log that had been
uncovered when there was a flood and the land owner was digging a drain for the
water. We were warned not to stop for the 40min video on Gumdggign as we did
not have the time. I did ask and they have no copies nor did they have books at
that time, but I was given a name to search and I know a website anyway that
could help. The park showed you holes in the ground that were the remains of
gum digging and then there were tunnels, though too that i didn’t know about.
It was annoying that we were rushed, but we ere also acing the tide since it
was high and the afternoon would be low. The Gum digger village had houses where
they lived, which was pretty sparce or bare. I had heard of a Hurdy Gurdy that
was gum washing machine. If you didn’t know
the area had anything to do with Gum digging then it would just be a bare area.
The land had been bought, but if it had been cleared for farming it could have
had the ancient Kauri dug out, but since the original land was there with the
bush you couldn’t do that. He really left it a bit too late and apparently with
WWII the gum digging fell apart and vanished as varnishes were made out of
something else. It could explain the dates in the National Archives and the
fact that not many people knows about it.
On the way north we stopped at Rarawa Beach so that we could
have a look at the beginnings of the silica sands that was used to make glass.
The further you head up north the purer the sand where the sand would head down
to Whangarei to make glass. We were on our way to the lunch break before
heading to play in the sand by tobogganing. We passed several small towns including
Te Kao that has 200 residents and three churches including a Maori religious
church that I don’t know much about other than a very different building. On
our way to Waitiki, which was lunch and the first or last fuel stop in the country
depending on your point of view. We were passing three stations that were part
the treaty settlements, which meant they were pretty big. I wasn’t sure if I
had ordered lunch, but I took it anyway and would just play dumb if I got
caught. I was guessing it was part of the tab. There wasn’t much to do there
and after eating we headed back to where the sand dunes were for us to Taboggan
down at Te Paki Stream a freshwater stream that is like quick sand so the bus couldn’t
stop. When we did stop we started going up the sand dunes to go down. I had one
go of it all as I was not wanting to do it twice. Up I toiled and I was
thinking of recording it on the way down, but thought better and I ended up in
the water. I ended up with sand up my shorts, but not from my waist area. At
least I had water to clean the sand out. We stayed for a bit longer until
several other bus’ turned up to do what we were doing.
Our next stop was Cape Reinga where we were not allowed to
drink or eat around the lighthouse as it was a spiritual place for the Maori as
thats where their spirits go before heading to the lone pohutukawa tree that
has apparently never flowered. Then they head to their ancestral land past the
three kings islands. We were also shown the place where the first lighthouse once was, but it tended to
be a tough place where it was on an island. Also it was manned so it made
everything equally tough as you had to send supplies. One of the reasons I
wanted to go back was that it was also the start of the Te Araroa trail. It
would take me 9 hours to walk to the Te Paki Stream or 4 hours to get me to the
Twilight Camp. Several people who left the bus here was actually walking to
Whangarei from what I heard. They did see me wandering back up from the start
of the track and wished me luck on the bus. I did see two of the ladies the day
before coming from Whangarei actually so it was funny they were following me. I
did end up down at the light house, but the wind had picked up so I needed to
make sure I would not lose my hat. I had to make sure I was on time as I seemed
to be the last back, but I wasn’t.
Once we were back on the road we headed back to the part of
the 90 mile beach that we would run on, but we had to go back half way from
where we were. Before we hit the beach the driver took us to another gum digger
hall type area as known as their party town known as Houhora. Its where they
spent their money and had a race track too. If you look then there is plenty to
find. Luckily, we stopped for a pit stop at Te Kao for ice cream where I ran off
first to have a look at a memorial to Eru Ihaka where the torch of progress was
lit in the north in 1925. I am not really sure as the rest of the memorial was
a world war one. I will do some research eventually. We were only doing around
20kms of the beach, but I was happy as I could see what looked to be rain
coming. We did actually stop on one part for a wander where I ended up a sand
dune and had to chase my escaping hat where I fell over running after it. Kinda
funny, but at least I got my hat. My hat went into the dune or else I would be
running down the beach. The water had been all the way up to the dune today and
the grass along with the trees had been planted as a buffer to stop the sand
moving in land. The end of the day had come and we headed home. I was happy
that I got dropped off at the front door. The funny thing was that it actually didn’t
start raining so I was good for that part in not getting wet.
Links
Dune Rider Kaitaia
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