Mosquitoes kept me up a little last night but that was the only bad thing about the day. I started out with a super breakfast and then went on Rob's Sand Safari tour of 90-mile Beach and Cape Reinga. No one is sure how the beach got its name (it's really about 90 km) but folklore is that there was this farmer who used to drive his sheep to market from the cape down the beach. One guy said to him, "I can't believe you do that, that beach has got to be 100 miles." The farmer answered, "Nope, just 90." The beach is endless, it disappears into the horizon at both ends. At low tide it's at least 100' from [the] dunes to [the] waves. We stopped once to collect shellfish. There are millions! You just stick your hand into the sand where there is a bubble and start pulling 'em out. In no time we had a bucket full. You'll never go hungry here (and there's NO LIMIT). The beach is so flat and long that is was the sight of a land speed record attempt. As we left the beach we drove up a river bed right into these huge sand dunes. The highest is 100 m. rob stopped here and we got to take pictures and play in the sand. The desert is so beautiful! The dunes cover quite a lot of ground. Then it was on the cape. There's a lighthouse and gift shop and at the top is cute sign that says how far it is to LA, London, etc. I got the obligatory photo. Then it was down to a little bay for lunch (a place the big [tour] busses don't go). [What a] great beach! I just went wading, the water was not as warm as I expected.

ASIDE - at the cape you're supposed to be able to "see" the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet. I didn't but it's a cool thought.

On the way back we took the road and stopped at another beach. At this one the sand was all white and SO soft. It's all silica. A few hundred yards off shore are these huge, white sand dunes sticking out of the water. This is where they dump the sand after it's sucked off the bottom [from dredging]. Rob would stop at EVERY little attraction and tell us about it. We left at 9 AM and got back at 5:30 PM.

Afterwards this American couple I met on the bus invited me out to dinner with them. We went to this great restaurant in a lovely old house. They talked me into an appetizer AND a desert. I got back to the hostel at 9:45 full and bushed.

90-mile Beach
90-mile Beach	Rob's van
climbing the dunes	top of the dunes
looking down
lighthouse	lighthouse
Pacific Ocean	Pacific Ocean lunch stop
white sand	silica