Northland

Northland east coast has hundreds of long and sandy beaches

It is also filled with small villages, telling the lives of the first immigrants

It also has loads of green hills, that reminds of Ireland ...

... except they are striped

Fishing limits are severe (250 oysters per person !)

Forests are a mix of tropical and temperated forest, but many species are endemic

Whangarei falls

Waro reserve has interestingly shaped limestones

Rawhiti was a fun place to snorkle: we found many starfishes

Pukeko birds are a common encounter

Russel is a touristic town in the Bay of Islands

Rainbow Falls

Kiwi rules

Doubtless Bay

Next to Waiharara is an interesting gumdigger museum and buried kauri forest

You can also get an idea how the real bush looks like

On top of history and geology, you can improve your botany knowledge :)

Here is the Silver Fern, one of the symbols of New Zealand

they also have a couple of American dwarf horses

Curious birds are everywhere

We are now close to Te Paki

We can see the western sand dunes

Te Werahi beach and Cape Maria Van Deiman

We are now in a sacred land

That land is now called Cape Reinga

We made it just before sunset :)

Cape Reinga is one "End of the World" place (that's where the road stops)

Here you can see where the Pacific ocean and the Tasman sea meet

We came back the next morning to admire the landscape again

It's now time to head towards the sand dunes

... and have some fun !

Climbing up the dunes is no easy job though

But going down goes much faster :)

Funny speed limits

90 mile beach is quite flat, and 4-wheel-drive cars have fun on it

One can get interesting mirror effect too

Back to greeneries ...

... and straight roads

We stopped on the way to salute the "Lord of the forest": the kauri tree Tane Mahuta

He has nice neighboors too

And the famous "4 sisters"

Behold the "Father of the forest": Te Matua Ngahere