Good morning from Coopers Beach! I am about 3/4 of the way up the very north island on the east coast or the pacific side. I left off on sunday in Paihia after the bus forgot me, spent the day kinda relaxing. Went for another trek along a different beach, took a bunch of photos as always. There was a sandcastle building competition! There were some really great entries! Spent that nite in my tent for the first time for $10 NZD a nite, so like $7 US prolly. Slept all of like 3 hours maybe. Just couldnt settle in. Got up at 6am monday to get packed up and catch the bus to Cape Reigna, which is the very most northern point of NZ. Caught the bus this time, our drivers name was spike and he was crazy. haha. It was the first crappy day ive seen while ive been here and the first time it had rained in the northland in like 2 months! We got up to 90 mile beach (funny cuz every other measurement is in kilometers) and there were 2 meter high swells on the ocean. It was pretty crazy. I guess that would have been the Tasman sea actually. We drove the bus prolly 35 minutes right down the beach!!! It was a pretty crazy experience. Its actually like a road as it had a speed limit. We had to go fast cuz we were racing the incoming tide, because there was a full moon on the 1st, and because of the rain and the hugeee waves. Our busdriver had been on this trip 550 times and it turns out theres a bluff that we were supposed to pass to get to these sand dunes. Well we tried for a good 20 minutes but he finnally made the decision to turn around. HIS FIRST time bailing out! I could tell it hurt his ego a bit, but he knew it wasnt safe! A few people on the bus were freaking out! It was kinda funny. So then we had to race back down the 35 minutes we had first come on the beach again racing the tide!!! and then drive another hour and 10 minutes to the dunes, instead of the extra 15 we would have had to from the bluff!! It was ok though. We got to the dunes after driving the bus through a river, and Spike took us up a 150meter dune with our boards, showed us how to go down and i went 2x!!! It was a blast! Prolly was only going like 20 MPH down the dune but it was still fun. It was rainy and cold however so it was a bit chilly in just my trunks!...... from there we continued on to Cape Reigna where there is a lighthouse at the very tip. This land is very sacred to the Maori as it is believed to be the final resting and departure place for their spirits as they die and make the Journey to Hawaki, or their original homeland. It was somewhat desolate land, but amazingly beautiful. I am still amazed by the rollling hills that all the sudden collide with the ocean. This is also the point where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific tides hit one another! They are opposing tides and it was quite a sight to see. It was verrry foggy and misty at the cape, so it was unfortunate, but it started to clear as we were walking back to the bus. At the lighthouse there is a big street sign type thing with all the distances to places around the world and in what direction they are. There was LA, London, the Equator, Buenos Aires. It was cool. Got back on the bus after an hour or so there. Drove through the largest man planted forest, as forestry is a huge industry here. Then stopped at the Ancient Kauri forest where the biggest trees in the world are. There was actuually a staircase carved out of one of the huge logs and it went up to the second floor. These kauri are protected now, but the ones here were dug up from swamps and dated to around 45,000 years ago! There were all sorts of cool souvenirs and statues made out of the logs. Even a couch that had a $15,000 price tag! Got dropped off at Coopers Beach after the driver forgot about me one more time. I had a contact named George Van Valkenburg here. He used to live in Salisbury, my hometown, across from where the post office is in that really cool old house thats been renovated. He moved to NZ about 30 years ago and he and his wife have a B&B right on the beach. He wasnt around when i got here, but his wife Janet was. She is from the states too. We talked for a while and she told me I couldnt stay here. I understood cuz this is their busiest time of here. However there was 1 suite which was vacant. As we were talking someone called wanting to book it, but they had 5 people and theres a 4 person limit. Around 630pm or so Janet was like, You might as well stay in the suite tonight, because at this point it doesnt look like anyone is going to come. I was amazed, she seemed a bit weary to do it, but this place goes for $250 NZD a night! She no sooner told me that, literally 2 minutes later, a woman walks in asking to stay the night!! Janet was like sorry, we dont have any vacancy!! Man i was lucky. The place is really nice, just a bottom floor, but with a living room, awesome bedroom, I GOT TO SHOWER!, and a little kitchen. With views right out to the ocean. And wireless! so i watched a little tv for the first time in a while, used my laptop and got some goood sleep! and here i am now, blogging while looking out the window at a sunny blue skies and the sound of waves behind me.......... man im lucky. Tonight i am going to stay at a campsite down the road. Then get picked up tomorow, wednesday the 6th and go back to Paihia for a night, then catch another bus on the 7th to venture back down towards Auckland to make plans for the rest of the North Island. Well i have to check out in about an hour, so im gonna pack up, maybe shower one more time and say my goodbyes.