Things to do in Cape Reinga & Ninety Mile Beach
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Gumdiggers Park
Kauri forests covered this area for over 100,000 years, leaving ancient logs and the much-prized gum (used for making varnish and linoleum) buried beneath. xxx covers a major gumdigging site – the region’s main industry from the 1870s to the 1920s. In 1900, some 7000 gumdiggers (wearing gumboots – the NZ name for Wellingtons) were digging holes all over Northland. Start with the 15-minute video telling the story of the trees, their mysterious destruction and the gum industry. Rope paths head through the bush, leading past reproductions of gumdiggers’ huts, ancient kauri stumps and holes left by the diggers. It was a hard life for the workers, who used jute sacks for their…
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Ancient Kauri Kingdom
It’s tacky and overpriced, but Ancient Kauri Kingdom is still worth a stop. Here 50,000-year-old kauri stumps, dragged up from swamps, are fashioned into furniture, woodcraft products and a fair bit of tourist tat. The large complex includes a cafe, gift shop and workshop. A huge kauri log has an impressive spiral staircase carved into it that takes you to the mezzanine level.
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Sand Safaris
A family-owned operation running coach trips, including a picnic lunch and a guided tour of Gumdiggers Park
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Ratana Temple
Beside the highway at Te Kao, 46km south of Cape Reinga, stands a Ratana Temple known as Nga-Tapuwae-Ote-Mangai (the Sacred Steps of the Mouthpiece). Ratana is a Maori Christian sect with more than 50,000 adherents, formed in 1925 by Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, who was known as ‘the mouthpiece of God’. This temple is built on land where Ratana once stood. It resembles a mosque, with its two domed towers (Arepa and Omeka, alpha and omega) and the Ratana emblem of the star and crescent moon.
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Paradise 4x4
Operates flexible, exclusive 4WD tours from Doubtless Bay up Ninety Mile Beach to Cape Reinga, including Devonshire tea and gourmet lunch with local wine. Hokianga tours also available.
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Far North Outback Adventures
Flexible, day-long tours from Kaitaia/Ahipara for $600 (one to three people) to $650 (four or five people), including morning tea and lunch. You can visit remote areas such as Great Exhibition Bay ($10 per person access fee).
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Cape Reinga Adventures
Real action men who offer 4WD tours (including sunset visits to the cape after the crowds have gone), fishing, kayaking, sand-boarding and dune-surfing as day activities or as overnight camping trips ($150 to $220). They also hire kayaks ($60 for 24 hours) and sandboards ($20).
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