After we spent the night near Cape Reinga in a beautiful campground at Tapotupotu, we drove onwards to Spirit's Bay. The beach parking area was nice, situated beside a small estuary with horses grazing, a giant boulder that looked like it was about to fall, and a random hill that was incredibly green. We walked over the dune and arrived at an amazing beach that we had completely to ourselves!
Spirit's Bay
The sand was covered in thousands of tiny polished shells, making it look like a beach from Candyland. So many colours and all sparkling in the sun. Andrew and I enjoyed just walking along the soft sand gathering shells; there were so many different types that we hadn't seen before.
Van visitor
We grabbed a picnic lunch. Yes, we seem to be having a lot of picnics; I guess when we are on the go and the landscape is this nice, we just have to!
Sun, sand, and waves!
We also grabbed the bodyboards since the waves were breaking right close to shore and the beach was sheltered enough for swimming. No strong currents, which is a good thing. The waves were incredible and both Andrew and I got some good long runs on the body boards. I can't wait until we learn to surf next month! Although I guess that means we will probably end up wanting surfboards.
Andrew at the beach
Little sandpiper
Andrew got cold before I did (the Pacific Ocean is MUCH colder than the Tasman sea). He went onto shore and relaxed with his book for a bit, then started building a sandcastle. It was slowly getting overwhelmed by waves as the tide came in though so I started building a moat and walls around the castle to help it last a little bit longer.
We had a visitor come join us, a little sandpiper, who ran almost right across the castle! Well, my moat turned into walls, which turned into another moat and kind of got out of hand. That would be one well defended castle though!
The sand was also solid enough to do some handstand practice. It was also soft enough for when I accidentally overbalanced and went a bit too far!
Building a moat to protect Andrew's castle
On the way back we drove past what was probably a few thousand sheep. It is so funny seeing them all naked; most of the sheep have been sheared and shearing season is nearly over. Lots of skinny little almost naked sheep going 'baah' loud enough to be heard over the engine of the car.
Handstand practice on the beach
Andrew and I also stopped at a couple of fruit and vegetable stands on our way back so that we wouldn't have to stop at the grocery store. It seems most farmers have a small little self- serve stand by their fence up here. They put whatever extra that they have in the stand and set the price. It is completely on the honesty system, but apparently it works because there are stands basically everywhere.
It makes it really easy to support local farms and eat fresh, organic produce most of the time. We picked up some avocado and some kumara (sweet potato) so that we could make a nice salad to go with dinner.
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