Undertook this Salt Air Cape Reinga Half Day Tour from Paihai on 25 March 2024
Driven to Kerikeri airport in minivan, by a great driver - Jim.
At the airport we met our pilot for the trip – Johnathon.
OK, I admit it, to me (in my old age) Johnathon looked way too young to be in charge of flying anything other than a kite…..!!
Oh boy, was I wrong.
This young man is a magician with an airplane.
He skillfully feathered our little plane up - firstly on a paved runway, then up and down upon a grass runway (which wasn’t flat!) and down upon a grass runway which was flat.
As we flew north, Johnathon piloted the plane to show us the myriad number of bays, scattered townships, farming lands, beaches (including the ‘ninety-mile beach’ (which, chuckle, is really only about 35 miles long!) plantations, the hills and flatlands.
At one stage we viewed a pod of Dolphins leaping with joyful abandon, relatively close to a deserted shore.
When flight came close to Cape Reinga, plane was abandoned for a minibus. Johnathon, with same skill shown during flight, drove us to Cape Reinga, then Tatouhou Bay, (where he delighted us with picnic of hot cuppa and muffin) then took us to Te Paki Sand Dunes, before driving us back to plane and undertaking the return flight to Kerikeri Airport - where once again the excellent driving skills of Jim delivered us back to Paihia.
Johnathon wasn’t just “pilot for the day”. To me, forevermore, he will be the “one in a million” pilot. His skill set is incredible.
The day was fabulous.
One cannot go to NZ without:
• Going to Cape Reinga to view the meeting of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean and to watch their waters mingling,
• Marveling at the tenacity of the Mauri sacred tree,
• Walking around the Cape Reinga Lighthouse and its attendant Signpost.
This tour is most definitely not to be missed.
It was the highlight of my comprehensive tour of NZ from Stewart Island in the South, to Bay of Islands in the North. Toe to tip of NZ.
Go for it. You will not regret it.