We camped for one more night in the carpark at Pahia for another night (as it was free!) and left stupidly early for the furthest north town in New Zealand, at least we think it is... This was the gateway to the far north, 90 mile beach and a place called Cape Reina. We were not insured to drive on 90 mile beach which is actually designated as a road, so we had to catch a very cheap tour.
And cheap it was, the driver of our beach bus was so annoying - he really did think he was the funnist person in all of New Zealand and had the most annoying laugh ever! Anyhow enough moaning - driving along the 56 miles of beach was very cool - esp because he drove at a good 90+ km/phr. Unfortunately there were only a couple of stops to grap some pics - the beach itself is stunning - completely undeveloped and we couldnt believe it was a designated highway :-). We also saw the leftovers of a few cars that had gotten trapped on the beach and burried in the sand - very cool!
To exit we drove up a riverbed to do a few sandsledging on huge dunes before heading to Cape Reina. The Cape has very picturesque lighthouse where you can see the Pacific Ocean meet the Tasman sea - so it can be very rough. The views are incredible from up there - no wonder its in the middle of nowhere. Although the driver continued to laugh at his own rubbish jokes with the worst laugh ever - for $45 for a full day tour it was well worth the money. We got to visit a few of the most incredible beaches on the East Coast as well on route back. From here we had to say goodbye to Tommy the Tank at Auckland where we got another refund for the previous trouble with Vinny - great customer care these Kiwis.
Anyhow we are now in Auckland with my mate Ryan, his lovely wife Jill and there gorgeous little girl Isabel.