KAITAIA

I uploaded my photos of Kaitaia to my computer today and also sent some photos of Kaitai to a friend of mine in the U.S.A.. My family visited Kaitaia more than a month ago but I was so lazy that I have not uploaded my photos to date. Kaitaia is a small town located at the far north of New Zealand. It has two main attractions: Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach.

I was told Cape Reinga is the northest tip of New Zealand, but later on I have found this to be untrue. The northest tip of New Zealand is Kerr Point near North Cape. However, Cape Reinga is the most popular as far as the tourist is concerned and from the Maori point of view. The translation of Reinga is "Place of leaping". Marori legends say that deceased spirits leap from this point when they depart to their traditional homeland in Polynesia.

90 Mile beach is probably shorter than 90 miles, it however takes more than an hour to go from one end to the other. The waves along the beach are huge and so it is a good place for surfing. There are some sand dunes along the beach, where people can come for sand dune surfing.