Sweet As Adventures in New Zealand: Road Trip

This weekend a bunch of us decided to head up to the 90 Mile Beach and Cape Reinga, I traveled with Lauren and her friend Alice. We started our adventure at 9 on Friday morning and didn't end it until 11:30 Sunday night. As we were driving North, our first stop was Mangawhai Heads which is known to have the best cliff walk in New Zealand, there was a beautiful beach and we walked along the trail for about an hour until my clumsy self decided to fall on my bad ankle. We then got back on the road and went as far as Paihia where we met up with the boys Taylor, Joey, Alex and Steven. We then caravaned to Rainbow Falls which is a 27 meter waterfall near the town Kerikeri. We decided to go for a swim and though the water was freezing cold, it was a fun adventure. After we were done swimming we hit the road again to our final destination of the night, Maitai Bay. We met up with Katlan, Jeff and Alex at the campsite and they helped us set up our tent in the dark. We saw the most beautiful view of the stars and I have never seen so many at once in my life. We woke up the next morning and went for a swim in the ocean before we began driving up the coast some more. Our next destination was the 90 Mile beach, I learned it is not actually 90 miles but instead 55 miles, apparently a drunken sailor walked along the beach and swore it was 90 miles and that is how it got its name. We drove the car on the beach and then layed out to soak up the sun. After we had enough sun, Lauren, Alice and I walked over to the Giant Te Paki Sand Dunes. There we were able to surf down the dune on a boogy board. I got sand in my mouth and only went once, but it was lots of fun. After that we decided to head further north to Cape Reinga where there is a lighthouse and the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. We had a picnic dinner and ran into the boys again while we were there and all enjoyed the sunset together. After the sun had set we went to our next campsite in Tapotupotu Bay (little did we know that this campsite was infested with mosquitoes that enjoyed eating away at us) We all sat together with this question book that Taylor owns, and continued to get to know each other better. The next morning, it was time to head back to Auckland, so we left the bay and started another long driving adventure. As we were driving we came across this beautiful beach called Omapere and stopped to enjoy the sun, we went with us girls and Jeff, Katlan and Alex but as we were messing around on the beach, the other boys came running towards us because they had seen us while they were driving. We had no cell phone service in the far North so it was quite humorous that we kept running into each other. After that we all caravaned to the tallest tree in New Zealand. It's name is Tane Mahuta which means Lord of the Forest in Maori, and it was a giant Kauri tree. We took our pictures then continued our journey home. We stopped again at Bayly's Beach to watch the sunset and all of us decided to go swimming in the ocean because the waves were so huge. We then got to drive on the beach and I got to drive around for a while as well. It was truly the perfect end to a great weekend. We drove a few more hours and finally made it back to Auckland. :)