We’re off to the edge of the world, or Cape Reinga – basically the ‘Lands End’ of New Zealand. In Maori “Te-Rerenga-Wairua” means ‘the leaping-off place of spirits’. This is the place where two oceans – Tasman and Pacific visibly meet in a violent exchange of boiling water (obviously it’s not actually boiling, but it’s still pretty frothy and choppy!) The Maori see this as the ‘male’ sea ‘meeting’ the ‘female’ sea.
Just around the corner from the ‘leaping-off’ place is Spirits Bay where a huge old pohutekawa tree sits. Legend goes that the Maori name ‘Pinhole’ and ‘Kapowairua’ (the component words of Pohutekawa) mean ‘to catch the spirit’. It is here on Spirits Bay where spirits gather to depart from this world, leaving from the old pohutekawa tree.
Looking very out of place, just across from Spirits Bay is a giant sand dune, looking as if someone has pulled up a huge screen with an image of the Sahara Dessert to fool you. Known as Tepaki Dunes, the highest dune is …. high and at the bottom of the dune you can rent sand boards (ok, they are basically wake boards but you can use them for sand boarding, same as you would use a snowboard or skis). As you can see, I’m very out of practice, but never the less this made for a hilarious GoPro video. Sam on the other hand, was a little too ambitious!
The Adventures of Elle Coco 