The days drive up the beach and back down again ... with a run out to Ship Wreck Cove for an evening sunset shot ...

Trekker on 90 Mile Beach

Many trekkers, determined to walk the length of the North Island, start at Cape Reinga and spend 3 days walking 90 Mile Beach ... (names can be deceiving. The truth is that the beach is only 54 miles (88 km) long.)

Blue skies and sandy beaches ...

Reminded me a lot of the drive-on beaches of Washington ... with the caveat that it's completely impassable when the tides in AND requires a 4WD vehicle to make the drive ...

Our ride to Cape Reinga

A 4WD on steroids. We stopped to let air out of the tires to increase our footprint over some particularly soft sand.

Shimmering beaches reflecting blue skies

Sand boarders' long trek ...

They don't call them "Giant Sand Dunes" for nothing ...

Sand boarding at Giant Sand Dunes

Our group opted for a lesser, more "climbable" dune in the time we had ... I got in two crazy fast runs!

Cape Reinga Lighthouse

At the northern tip of NZ*, Cape Reinga marks the convergence of the Tasman Sea (to the left), the Coral Sea (to the left) and the Pacific Ocean (to the right)... Usually a quite turbulent meeting ... but today, they were all playing nice ...

*Cape Reinga is not technically the northern most tip ... The Surville Cliffs at North Cape (Otou) about 60km east are, but the Cape is the generally accepted northern tip of NZ

Tokoroa Island near Pukenui, NZ

Just loved the colors ... couldn't resist a shot ...

Lone Fisherman - Shipwreck Bay

Wrapped up my day with a visit to Shipwreck Bay (it's at the south end of 90 Mile Beach).

I was drawn to the silhouette and sunset colors in the sand...