Waves were washing ashore on my left. Countless stars speckled an inky black sky. The Southern Crux and Milky Way showed brightly. The constellations seemed close enough to touch or maybe scoop a handful from the air. To the north was Ninety-Mile beach cloaked in featureless black. Beyond that was Cape Reinga, my destination for the day and this journey lay on the other side. Signpost to adventure up ahead.
Not Quite Ninety Miles
Ninety-Mile Beach is 86 km long. The strand runs up the western tip of the Northern Island from Ahipara in the south to near Cape Reinga at the northern point. Locals say the beach got it name from cattle ranchers in the area, who would drive their herds down the beach. They could make about 30 miles a day, and it took three days to make the trip — hence the name Ninety-Mile beach. Riding the 90-Mile Beach to Cape Reinga turned out to be on of the major highlights of my journey through New Zealand. The ocean, the stars, riding at night, all made for an adventurous day on the bike.
Pedaling at Zero Dark Thirty
Online research recommended beginning riding three hours before low tide to allow for three hours before low tide and three hours after low tide, providing a total of six hours to complete the ride from Ahipara to the turn out at Te Paki Stream. After exiting the beach, I would begin my final push to Cape Reinga, some 22 kilometers from that point. The current tide tables listed the next low tide at 0631 the following morning. I set the must be “on the beach” departure time for 0330.
A quick glance at my watch indicated 0325. I was right on time. After pushing my bike through the soft sand out onto the hard packed sand closer to the surface, which was which was quite a bit farther out on the beach from the night before, I began pedaling north. Gradually my eyes adjusted to the dark and I was able to make out faint shapes around me as I rode on.
The rhythmic crashing of the surf was to my left. In my periphery, I could make out faint sand bluffs to my right. In my rear view mirror, I could see the distant lights of sleepy Ahipara. I pedaled north into the engulfing blackness that lay ahead.
A Night Under the Stars
Overhead, countless stars fill the inky moonless night sky. The Milky Way, the Southern Cross were all clear to see. The stars seemed so close I could almost reach up and scoop up a hand full of them with my bare hand. The only other times in my life I can remember starry nights such as this were nights high in the Himalayas and when I was a kid in Idaho.
Most of the way, I was comfortably cruising along at 20 kph. Even with mudguards, wet sand coated the lower part of my bike. My brakes were so saturated with saltwater and grit; they began to fade a bit. Occasionally, I would stop to survey the environment around me. Though standing on the hard-packed sand, my feet and bike tires would immediately begin settling into the sand. The gray pre-dawn light made it difficult to distinguish between sky and earth. The riding started to have a surreal sense to it.
After about three or four hours on the beach, the sun was up. It was clear the ebbing tide had passed, and the surf had begun gradually but surely making its way back in pushing me closer and closer to the small bluffs at the edge of the shoreline. The thought of being caught out in the surf spurred me on.
Not the Only One on the Beach
After a while, I noticed vehicle lights behind me in the distance. A few trucks turned into a stream of small SUVs and pickup trucks. I wonder if New Zealanders were using the beach as a freeway and were trying to beat the tide as well. I rounded a small finger of beach to see hundreds of fishers long-lining in the surf. That’s why all the vehicles were passing me so early in the morning.
Little did I know there was a fishing contest with a purse of over NZD 40,000 in prize money going to the person who could land the biggest snapper. Prizes also included a new car, fishing gears, and many other awards. The contest drew fishers from all over New Zealand. These fishermen were motivated. As I drove up the beach, anglers were trying their luck as far as I could see up the beach. I cycled past them over five kilometers, and they were still along the shore as far as I could see when I reached the turn-out point at Te Paki Stream. Some fishermen waved while others stared in apparent disbelief as I pedaled by them.
Riding Upstream Te Paki Stream
Massive dunes ahead signaled my exit point. Upon reaching a stream flowing across the beach perpendicular to the front of me and emptying into the ocean, I turned eastward and began working my way up Te Paki Stream. After a couple of hundred meters, the beach ended, leaving the only way out to be up middle of the stream. I stopped for a few minutes in the middle of current to splash the fresh water on the bike to wash off the sand caked on the lower half of the bike. Soft sand along the steep sides of the dunes made it apparent the only way out to State Highway 1 was up against the middle of the flooded wash. And so I went.
In some sections, the sand was firm enough I could ride slowly in first gear. In other places, the bike bogged down in quicksand, and I had to push it while wading through near knee-deep water. My little beach adventure had just gone up a couple of notches. Periodically, four-wheel-drive vehicles surged past me with the driver and passengers gawking at me and were probably wondering what the heck the crazy guy on the bike was doing in the middle of the wash.
After a kilometer or two, I made substantial dry land at the Te Paki Dunes rest area where I continued out on a dirt track to reach Highway 1 and onto Cape Reinga still some 22 kilometers of climbing away. My little foray along the beach to Reinga turned out to be quite an adventurous day.
An Unexpected Adventure
Ninety-Mile Beach turned out to be an unexpected adventure of the best kind. Riding alone for hours on end along a deserted beach (save for the fishermen). A starry sky to guide me. Who could as for more? If you’re headed north to Cape Reinga, I recommend you consider riding Ninety-Mile Beach. You won’t be disappointed. See you out there.
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